A transcribing RNA polymerase molecule survives DNA replication without aborting its growing RNA chain.

Abstract

We have demonstrated elsewhere that a precisely placed, stalled Escherichia coli RNA polymerase ternary transcription complex (polymerase-RNA-DNA) stays on the DNA template after passage of a DNA replication fork. Moreover, the bypassed complex remains competent to resume elongation of its bound RNA chain. But the simplicity of our experimental system left several important questions unresolved: in particular, might the observation be relevant only to the particular ternary complex that we studied, and can the finding be generalized to a transcribing instead of a stalled RNA polymerase? To address these issues, we have created three additional ternary transcription complexes and examined their fates after passage of a replication fork. In addition, we have examined the fate of moving RNA polymerase molecules during DNA replication. The results suggest that our previous finding applies to all transcription intermediates of the E. coli RNA polymerase.