Georgian Technical University Scientists Discover How RNA Pol II Maintains Accurate Transcription With Supercomputer.

RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) and DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II undergoes the intrinsic cleavage of the mis-incorporated nucleotide (the yellow part in the picture) during proofreading of the RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) transcription. The message of life is encoded in our genomic DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) through transcription of messenger RNAs (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) and translation of proteins to perform cellular functions. To ensure accurate transcription—a process that transcribes genomic DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) into messenger RNA by adding nucleotides one by one like letters in the alphabet, an enzyme called RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II would synthesize and proofread messenger RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) to remove any mis-incorporated nucleotides that do not match with the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses) template. While RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II was known to be critical in ensuring the accuracy of transcription, it had been a long-standing puzzle as to how this enzyme accomplishes this difficult task. Scientists have always been intrigued to find out the underlying mechanisms, as that could offer insights on how errors could be made during this otherwise highly-accurate transcription process, which may lead to various human diseases. A research team led by Prof. X and Y Associate Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Georgian Technical University recently discovered the mechanism for RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II to correct errors in RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) synthesis. When a nucleotide is added by mistake RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II can rewind by moving backwards (called backtracking) and cleave this mis-incorporated nucleotide. The research team found that while specific amino acid residues of RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II are critical for backtracking, cleavage of the mis-incorporated nucleotide only requires the RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) itself (i.e. phosphate oxygen of mis-incorporated nucleotide). “RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids and along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II is like a molecular machine in the cell. Nature cleverly designs this machine to catalyze two distinct chemical reactions in a single active site without getting mixed-up. While normal RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) synthesis requires specific amino acid residues of RNA (Ribonucleic acid is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, and, along with lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, constitute the four major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life) polymerase II, we found that the removal of the mismatched nucleotide does not rely on any amino acid residues. This molecular machine seamlessly coordinates these two functions in one active site” said Huang. “Our discovery offers valuable insights into how transcription may go wrong in ageing and diseased cells and to what extent transcriptional errors may lead to various human diseases”. “Our work is only possible with the large-scale high-performance computing resources mostly provided by the Z Supercomputer in collaboration with Georgian Technical University” W added. “Our quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics calculations consumed 20 million CPU (An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow) core hours in total”. Y’s research interest lies in understanding complex biological and chemical processes using computational approaches.