Visualization of the RNA-Polymerase III Complete Transcription Cycle and the Bacterial Expressome by Cryo-Electron Tomography (B05)

• Subject Area: Structural Biology
• Term: from 2011 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 161793742

Latest discoveries show that the bacterial and eukaryotic RNA polymerases adopt a comparable active center conformation during transcription elongation. The next frontier is to understand the regulation of the enzymes in the other states and complete our understanding of their function. For the third funding period we aim to visualize the enzymes in their native state on the genes by cryo-electron tomography in order to understand the regulation of pausing, backtracking and in particular termination in our bacterial and eukaryotic systems. For this we will use „Miller-type“ spreads of the RNA Polymerase III transcribing 5S rRNA genes. In parallel we aim to visualize the interplay between the bacterial RNA Polymerase and the ribosome within whole or spread Mycoplasma cells.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 902: Molecular Principles of RNA-based Regulation
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Achilleas Frangakis