The Escherichia coli RNA polymerase alpha subunit: structure and function

Abstract

Recent work has established that the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase alpha subunit consists of an amino-terminal domain containing determinants for interaction with the remainder of RNA polymerase, a carboxy-terminal domain containing determinants for interaction with DNA and interaction with transcriptional activator proteins, and a 13-36 amino acid unstructured and/or flexible linker. These findings suggest a simple, integrated model for the mechanism of involvement of alpha in promoter recognition and transcriptional activation.