Talk:RNA polymerase

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This article was the MCB Collaboration of the Month for the month of April 2007.
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To-do list for RNA polymerase:

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    1. Add more references. (WP:FOOTNOTE)
    2. Too short and incomplete for such a well-studied subject.
    3. Mention error rate or processivity factors.
    4. Describe the polymerization reaction.
    5. Make the 'isolation' section bigger and rename to 'purification'.
    6. More than single-sentence explanations for the distinctions between polymerases in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes (there's nothing on how these distinctions are maintained or regulated, for example.)
    This article may be too technical for a general audience.
    Please help improve this article by providing more context and better explanations of technical details to make it more accessible, without removing technical details.

    Contents

    [edit] just...

    I'm sorry if I'm only complicating this more, but I would add the the rna polymerase moves from 3' prime to 5' prime. Then again, maybe not. :b I just skimmed through the page so I might have skipped it if it was included.

    This is valid. I believe it moves from 3' to 5' template of the DNA antisense and synthesizes 5' to 3'. The introduction should be a little clearer on this. LostLucidity (talk) 16:31, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

    [edit] Not too technical

    I disagree with the idea that this article is too technical. It really isn't any more or less dense than the related articles on gene expression or molecular biology. I'm leaving the technical notice here on the talk page for now, but am removing the cleanup notice from the article. The edits since October 2005 seem to justify removing the cleanup notice. -DrNixon 23:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


    Is the section on purification of RNAP necessary? The list is poorly referenced, incomplete, and mainly of interest to the very small number of specialists who might purify RNAP in their research.

    [edit] Misleading?

    I think the very first sentence of this article is somewhat misleading. Firstly, RNA polymerase is not found in all cells! It may also be better to say that RNA polymerases are a family (is there a better word than family for what I'm trying to convey?) of enzymes which synthesise RNA, because the term 'RNA polymerase' on its own is used to mean the prokaryotic RNA polymerase enzyme, and this could cause confusion.

    I can't think of the right phrasing to use to make this article both correct and clear at the same time, which is why I'm not going to edit yet. Textbook ref: Mattews, Van Holde and Ahern, "Biochemistry (3rd Ed.)"

    Curiousdaughter 14:35, 10 February 2007 (UTC)


    Good point. The notion of family is quite correct. As an overview article about polymerases it should make that clear. In addition, the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerases encompass an own family and this should be made clear. CharonZ 15:09, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

    [edit] C-terminal domain info

    There was some info on the C-terminal domain of RNA pol.II in a separate article. I've merged it here before I realized that there actually is a separate article for RNA polymerase II. Should it be moved of there? - tameeria 02:57, 7 May 2007 (UTC)