RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) (IMAGE)
Caption
RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) initiates transcription at a multitude of positions in the human genome. However, only a fraction of these sites is associated with genes that give rise to functional RNA. The 'Integrator' complex by default terminates RNAPII shortly after its initiation (top), unless specific gene-defining elements are present allowing for transition to productive elongation (bottom). In the latter case, transcription is typically terminated by the 'Cleavage & Polyadenylation' Complex that recognizes specific 'terminator' sequence elements in the genome (bottom, red box). In the former case the produced short RNA is by default rapidly degraded by the RNA exosome, whereas snRNAs constitute a special case that avoids degradation.
Credit
Søren Lykkke-Andersen
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Image may be used only to illustrate the research described in the accompanying release
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