Premium
Resolution of head‐on collisions between the transcription machinery and bacteriophage Φ29 DNA polymerase is dependent on RNA polymerase translocation
Author(s) -
ElíasArnanz Montserrat,
Salas Margarita
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/18.20.5675
Subject(s) - biology , polymerase , rna polymerase , transcription (linguistics) , microbiology and biotechnology , rna polymerase ii , rna polymerase i , dna , chromosomal translocation , rna dependent rna polymerase , genetics , rna , gene , gene expression , promoter , linguistics , philosophy
The outcome of collisions between Bacillus subtilis phage Φ29 DNA polymerase and oppositely oriented transcription complexes has been studied in vitro . We found that the replication fork was unable to go past a transcription ternary complex stalled head‐on. However, head‐on collisions did not lead to a deadlock. Both DNA and RNA polymerase remained bound to the template and, when the halted transcription complex was allowed to move, the replication machinery resumed normal elongation. These results suggested that a replication fork that encounters an RNA polymerase head‐on whose movement is not impeded would bypass the transcription machinery. Our results for head‐on collisions between concurrently moving replication and transcription complexes are indeed consistent with the existence of a resolving mechanism. The ability of Φ29 DNA polymerase to resolve head‐on collisions with itself during symmetrical replication of Φ29 DNA in vivo is likely to be related to its ability to pass a head‐on oriented RNA polymerase.