Jayan Rammohan’s studies of the kinetics and thermodynamics of mycobacterial transcription initiation show that the essential transcription factor CarD from M. tuberculosis both slows bubble collapse and increases the rate of DNA unwinding. As CarD is found at promoters across the M. tuberculosis genome, understanding its molecular mechanism may lead to new strategies to disrupt gene regulation in this important human pathogen.
Publication in NAR: CarD stabilizes mycobacterial open complexes via a two-tiered kinetic mechanism.
- by Eric Galburt