BACKGROUND Biomolecular mechanisms are typically inferred from static structural
“snapshots” obtained by x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) …

Recent advances in sequencing techniques that measure nascent transcripts and that
reveal the positioning of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) have shown that the pausing of Pol II in …

Single-molecule Förster-resonance energy transfer (smFRET) experiments allow the study
of biomolecular structure and dynamics in vitro and in vivo. We performed an international …

Transcription rates are regulated by the interactions between RNA polymerase, sigma factor,
and promoter DNA sequences in bacteria. However, it remains unclear how non-canonical …

Transcription of highly expressed genes has been shown to occur in stochastic bursts. But
the origin of such ubiquitous phenomenon has not been understood. Here, we present the …

In eukaryotic transcription initiation, a large multi-subunit pre-initiation complex (PIC) that
assembles at the core promoter is required for the opening of the duplex DNA and …

Fluorescence provides a mechanism for achieving contrast in biological imaging that
enables investigations of molecular structure, dynamics, and function at high spatial and …

The Mediator complex is a multi-subunit assembly that appears to be required for regulating
expression of most RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcripts, which include protein-coding and …

Single-molecule biophysics has transformed our understanding of biology, but also of the
physics of life. More exotic than simple soft matter, biomatter lives far from thermal …

RNA polymerases (RNAPs) carry out transcription in all living organisms. All multisubunit
RNAPs are derived from a common ancestor, a fact that becomes apparent from their amino …