Hi. In this video, we're going to be talking about prokaryotic transcription. So prokaryotic transcription is different or differs from eukaryotic transcription. They're similar in a lot of ways, but there are important differences. So, first, let's talk about the first step of transcription, which is always initiation. Now, prokaryotic transcription initiation requires certain factors, of course. One of these factors is called a promoter, and this promoter is actually a DNA sequence, and this lies upstream of the transcription start site. Remember, before the gene, and it's a DNA sequence that signals for transcription start. And how it signals is because it recruits proteins to that area that will trigger transcription initiation. So we call the promoter sequence in prokaryotes consensus sequences. This means that they're not the exact same. They're not conserved sequences, meaning that it's pretty much the same sequence across many different organisms, but consensus sequence just means that they're similar. They're not exact, they're not even close enough to be exact, but they're pretty similar across many different prokaryotic species. So promoters in prokaryotes are consensus sequences, and this is one major difference because in eukaryotic transcription that's not the case. Now, one of these sequences that acts as a promoter is called the prim now box, or sometimes you don't see it as this, but you see it as just the 10 base pair sequence, because it lies 10 base pairs upstream of the transcription start site. So this is the sequence here, you don't necessarily need to know that, but just know that the prim prim prim now box, lies 10 base pairs upstream of the start site and is a very common prokaryotic promoter. Now, in addition to the prim Now box, there's another 35 base pair consensus sequence that doesn't necessarily have a fancy name but is also present. So you have one at the 10 base pair and one at the 35 base pair upstream. And then, occasionally, you get another sequence that is 40 to 60 base pairs upstream. And I write notice here that I'm writing this as negative 40, negative 60. That suggests that it's upstream of the sequence. So here are the 3 potential promoters. These 2 are very commonly here, and this one is mainly optional; it's occasionally there. Now you have these promoters, so what comes in, I said proteins come in and bind to the promoter. Well, what this is called is called the RNA polymerase holoenzyme, and the holoenzyme just means that it has the region of the protein that's going to catalyze the reaction, so the catalytic core, the enzyme is doing its job, but it also has other factors as well. So the RNA polymerase holoenzyme for prokaryotes has the core enzyme, which is going to be doing the transcription part, but it also has an important factor called the sigma factor. And the sigma factor is a short peptide sequence, and this controls specificity. So RNA polymerase in prokaryotes transcribes all RNA. And so, in order to specify what type is needed, whether ribosomes are needed or whether this is being used for protein synthesis, The part that controls that is the sigma factor, and the sigma factor is kind of just this exchangeable factor. So there are many different types of sigma factors, and each one is specific for a different type of RNA. And so whenever the cell needs to transcribe, say, ribosomal RNA, it brings in the appropriate sigma factor. If it needs to transcribe protein or transcribe RNA that will be used for protein, it brings in the appropriate sigma factor. And so the sigma factor is important for specificity, what RNA is actually being transcribed. So if we look at this, here's initiation of transcription. Remember, we have a DNA double helix. We have the RNA factor or RNA polymerase, and the sigma factor is inside, and that can be exchanged, depending on the RNA that needs to be transcribed. And although it's written here in a really horrible yellow color, I don't know who made this image, but the yellow represents the promoter. So you can see the RNA polymerase is coming, it's binding this promoter, and this will initiate transcription. So after transcription is initiated, what happens is the transcript has to be elongated, so that occurs after initiation, and the region that's being transcribed at the time is called the transcription bubble. This is a short sequence of DNA. It's around 18 nucleotides long, and this is what's actively being transcribed. So only about 8 nucleotides are being transcribed at any given moment, but you need 10 more to fit the proteins that are being associated, the RNA polymerase, the sigma factor, the unwound DNA, so it creates this light bubble that's a transcription where transcription is occurring or about to occur or have just occurred, and we call that bubble the transcription bubble. Now, the transcription bubble continues along the whole way. Right? It transcribes the DNA until it reaches a certain, sequence, and that sequence is where termination occurs. So, there are many different types of sequences, and the sequence is called the termination sequence, also called the terminator, depending on the book that you use. I like terminator just because it sounds real fancy, but essentially it's just a DNA sequence that says, hey, stop here, and, it's found upstream of where it's actually terminated, and the termination sequence signals for proteins to come in and help terminate it. So it's not going to terminate it there, right? Because that would get rid of the sequence and it needs that sequence. It terminates it sort of, downstream, of that sequence. Now there are different types of proteins that come in to help terminate. There are some called the rho dependent terminators. You may also see rho written in fancy way, but essentially it's pronounced rho. And this, terminates the transcript in the presence of a rho protein. Then, of course, there's rho independent terminators and do it in the absence of the rho protein, and then there's this fancy type these are the 2 most common, and then there's this fancy type called intrinsic termination, and this happens, much more rarely, but what happens is that you have an RNA with a bunch of uracil in it, and uracil is not, you know, in DNA, a binds with t. It doesn't bind with u. So if you have a transcript that has a bunch of uracils, you have a binding with u on the template strand, and that bond is weak. It's definitely not as weak as the a t pair. So a is u, it's weak. So what happens is that RNA polymerase, these this transcript have a bunch of uracils, these are weak bonds, and it can cause disassociation of that transcript and the RNA polymerase and result in transcript termination. Now, oftentimes that happens, it's too early and it shouldn't be happening like that, but sometimes it happens when it's supposed to. But again, like I said, the intrinsic termination is more rare than the rho dependent or rho independent terminators. Now, finally, let's talk about this last little bit, and this is very important, because this is a big difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription. So prokaryotic transcription can result in polycistronic mRNA. What polycistronic mRNA is, it's actually RNA that has a group of genes. So there's been, there's DNA, there's a group of genes in order, and all of it has been transcribed into RNA in a single strand, instead of each RNA represents each gene. So you have a single RNA and it has 4, 5, 10, 15, 50 genes on it, and this means that there is only one terminator and that was present at the end of the group of genes. So the RNA polymerase just kept transcribing, kept transcribing until it reached the terminator, and that happened to be after a few genes were already present. And so the prokaryotic, this doesn't happen in eukaryotic transcription, but in prokaryotic transcription, that means that the RNA that's produced has to be processed further so that each gene is cut out individually, processed into individual genes and individual proteins instead of just one long mRNA transcript or polycistronic mRNA that contains multiple genes. So here we have an example, we have initiation, which I showed you before. You have your RNA polymerase, your sigma factor binding to your promoter. Then you have your transcription bubble as it's being transcribed. Remember, this is the 5 prime end and the 3 prime end is over here. And, because this is, because it's, yeah, 3 prime and 5 prime because it's doing the RNA strand as the template sequence, and then there's some type of termination sequence here in green. And so when the RNA polymerase actually reaches this sequence, it dissociates, the sigma factor dissociates, and now you have, mRNA. And sometimes this mRNA, if it's polycistronic mRNA, can contain multiple genes on it, but here there are 3, and each one will have to be processed so that they eventually become separate mRNAs and separate proteins. So that is prokaryotic transcription, let's now move on.
- 1. Introduction to Genetics51m
- 2. Mendel's Laws of Inheritance3h 37m
- 3. Extensions to Mendelian Inheritance2h 41m
- 4. Genetic Mapping and Linkage2h 28m
- 5. Genetics of Bacteria and Viruses1h 21m
- 6. Chromosomal Variation1h 48m
- 7. DNA and Chromosome Structure56m
- 8. DNA Replication1h 10m
- 9. Mitosis and Meiosis1h 34m
- 10. Transcription1h 0m
- 11. Translation58m
- 12. Gene Regulation in Prokaryotes1h 19m
- 13. Gene Regulation in Eukaryotes44m
- 14. Genetic Control of Development44m
- 15. Genomes and Genomics1h 50m
- 16. Transposable Elements47m
- 17. Mutation, Repair, and Recombination1h 6m
- 18. Molecular Genetic Tools19m
- 19. Cancer Genetics29m
- 20. Quantitative Genetics1h 26m
- 21. Population Genetics50m
- 22. Evolutionary Genetics29m
Transcription in Prokaryotes - Online Tutor, Practice Problems & Exam Prep
Prokaryotic transcription begins with the initiation phase, where RNA polymerase holoenzyme binds to consensus promoter sequences, including the Pribnow box. The sigma factor within the holoenzyme ensures specificity for different RNA types. Transcription elongates within a transcription bubble until a termination sequence signals the end. Prokaryotes can produce polycistronic mRNA, containing multiple genes, requiring further processing into individual mRNAs. Key terminators include rho-dependent and rho-independent types, with intrinsic termination occurring less frequently due to weak uracil bonds. Understanding these processes is crucial for grasping gene expression in prokaryotes.
Prokaryotic Transcription
Video transcript
Which of the following is not an example of a prokaryotic promoter sequence?
What is the purpose of a sigma factor in prokaryotic transcription?
Prokaryotic transcription can create polycistronic mRNA.
Do you want more practice?
More setsYour Genetics tutor
- The diagram below shows a DNA duplex. The template strand is identified, as is the location of the nucleotide...
- The DNA sequences shown below are from the promoter regions of six bacterial genes. In each case, the last nuc...
- Bacterial and eukaryotic gene transcripts can differ—in the transcripts themselves, in whether the transcripts...
- Describe the two types of transcription termination found in bacterial genes. How does transcription terminati...
- Draw a bacterial promoter and label its consensus sequences. How does this promoter differ from a eukaryotic p...
- The segment of the bacterial TrpA gene involved in intrinsic termination of transcription is the following; 3'...
- The segment of the bacterial TrpA gene involved in intrinsic termination of transcription is the following; 3'...
- The segment of the bacterial TrpA gene involved in intrinsic termination of transcription is the following; 3'...
- Describe the structure of RNA polymerase in bacteria. What is the core enzyme? What is the role of the σ subun...
- Wild-type E. coli grow best at 37°C but can grow efficiently up to 42°C. An E. coli strain has a mutation of t...
- Wild-type E. coli grow best at 37°C but can grow efficiently up to 42°C. An E. coli strain has a mutation of t...
- Wild-type E. coli grow best at 37°C but can grow efficiently up to 42°C. An E. coli strain has a mutation of t...
- Wild-type E. coli grow best at 37°C but can grow efficiently up to 42°C. An E. coli strain has a mutation of t...
- Write a paragraph describing the abbreviated chemical reactions that summarize RNA polymerase-directed transcr...
- A mutant strain of Salmonella bacteria carries a mutation of the rho protein that has full activity at 37°C bu...
- A mutant strain of Salmonella bacteria carries a mutation of the rho protein that has full activity at 37°C bu...
- The DNA sequence below gives the first 12 base pairs of the transcribed region of a gene, and the template and...
- The DNA sequence below gives the first 12 base pairs of the transcribed region of a gene, and the template and...
- The DNA sequence below gives the first 12 base pairs of the transcribed region of a gene, and the template and...