Do sigma factors need help with a meltdown?

Saecker, Ruth M; Davis, Caroline A; Record, M T · Cell · 2006

editorial · Level V

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Abstract

In this issue of Cell, Hsu et al. (2006) report on the binding activity of a variant of the bacterial transcriptional specificity factor sigma (sigma) to promoter DNA. This study demonstrates that the sigma variant induces a large distortion in the transcriptional start site in the absence of core RNA polymerase, raising intriguing new questions about the roles of sigma and core RNA polymerase in transcription initiation.

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