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

Despite enormous progress in understanding the fundamentals of bacterial gene regulation,
our knowledge remains limited when compared with the number of bacterial genomes and …

Molecular engineering seeks to create functional entities for modular use in the bottom-up
design of nanoassemblies that can perform complex tasks. Such systems require fuel …

Single-molecule force spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate the forces
and motions associated with biological molecules and enzymatic activity. The most common …

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 …

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 …

Transcription of DNA is a fundamental process in all cellular organisms. The enzyme
responsible for transcription, RNA polymerase, is conserved in general architecture and …

Since their first demonstration of manipulation and mechanical coiling of a single DNA
molecule, magnetic tweezers have become a popular and widely used single-molecule …

During transcription initiation, RNA polymerase binds to promoter DNA to form an initiation
complex containing a DNA bubble and enters into abortive cycles of RNA synthesis before …

In cells, RNA polymerase (RNAP) must transcribe supercoiled DNA, whose torsional state is
constantly changing, but how RNAP deals with DNA supercoiling remains elusive. We report …