Developing a comprehensive system for the mechanism study of RNA polymerase in transcription

Abstract

As a function unit in the transcription process, RNA polymerase plays a critical part in natural organism metabolism. Over the past few years, the true significance of RNA polymerase in various fields, including diseases, aging, and development, has been increasingly revealed. There have been numerous technical breakthroughs in recent decades, but there are several issues that have gone unnoticed. On the one hand, as far as eukaryote, their mature RNA is usually modified after transcription, which blocks the acquisition of the in situ information for the working RNA polymerase. RNA sequencing technology's current limitations impact mutation detection. In contrast, because RNA viruses' genomes are only made up of RNA, their conserved RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) provides a deeper understanding of their gene delivery and inhibition mechanisms. However, because of the absence of a high-resolution biomimetic in vitro transcription assay, the studies focus on viral RdRp is particularly constrained. We developed a comprehensive platform for the mechanism study of RNA polymerase in transcription, which includes sequencing technology targeting highly accurate nascent RNA, and a high-resolution biomimetic in vitro transcription assay.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Supervisor	Xuhui HUANG (Supervisor) & Pak Hang Peter CHEUNG (Supervisor)