Transcriptional bursts: a unified model of machines and mechanisms

Abstract

{\it Transcription} is the process whereby RNA molecules are polymerized by molecular machines, called RNA polymerase (RNAP), using the corresponding DNA as the template. Recent {\it in-vivo} experiments with single cells have established that transcription takes place in "bursts" or "pulses". In this letter we present a model that captures not only the mechano-chemistry of individual RNAPs and their steric interactions but also the switching of the gene between the ON and OFF states. This model accounts for the statistical properties of the transcriptional bursts. It also shows how the quantitative features of the distributions of these bursts can be tuned by controlling the appropriate steps of operation of the RNAP machines.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in Europhysics letters

References in corpus (3)

• Statistical Physics of Vehicular Traffic and Some Related Systems
• Interacting RNA polymerase motors on DNA track: effects of traffic congestion and intrinsic noise on RNA synthesis
• Distributions of Time- and Distance-Headways in the Nagel-Schreckenberg Model of Vehicular Traffic: Effects of Hindrances

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Minimal model of transcriptional elongation processes with pauses