NEWS ON INITIATION AND ELONGATION OF TRANSCRIPTION BY RNA-POLYMERASE-II

Transcription by RNA polymerase II is a complex process that requires additional factors to initiate transcription at the promoters. New dev elopments in the past year have furthered our understanding of the fun ctions of the transcription factors and provided more insights into th e mechanisms involved in the regulation of initiation and elongation o f transcription. One of the most significant advances of the past year was the discovery of the involvement of the general transcription fac tor TFIIH in DNA excision repair. Surprisingly, studies aimed at ident ifying the kinase activity within TFIIH responsible for phosphorylatin g the carboxy-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II revealed it to be t he MO15/Cdk7 kinase and its partner, cyclin H. These exciting observat ions suggest a paradigm for linking transcription, DNA excision repair and cell cycle progression through one pivotal factor.