Understanding the Molecular Basis of RNA Polymerase II Transcription

Synthetic nucleic acid analogues have profoundly advanced our knowledge of DNA and RNA, as well as the complex biological processes that involve nucleic acids. As a pivotal enzyme, eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is responsible for transcribing DNA into messenger RNA, which then serves as a template to direct protein synthesis. Chemically modified nucleic acid analogues have greatly facilitated the structural elucidation of the RNA Pol II elongation complex and our understanding of the key chemical interactions governing RNA Pol II transcriptional fidelity. This review addresses major progress in RNA polymerase II mechanistic studies using modified nucleic acid analogues in recent years.