33rd Annual Student Research Conference
Comparative Bioinformatic Analysis of the Presence of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in RNA Polymerase II
Brooke L. Diehl* and Chanz S. Silkey
Dr. Brent Buckner, Faculty Mentor
RNA Polymerase II, which is composed of twelve protein subunits, catalyzes the transcription of mRNA and several types of noncoding RNAs. The largest subunit, RPB1, contains an Intrinsically Disordered Region (IDR) that has been implicated in the nucleation of biomolecular condensates at the site of transcription initiation. IDRs lack stable secondary structures, have an overrepresentation of a few amino acids, are rich in polar and charged amino acids, and have a low content of bulky hydrophobic amino acids. Using the PONDR algorithm we identified which RNA Polymerase II subunits in humans, yeast, Arabidopsis and maize contain IDRs. The RPB4 subunit contained an N-terminal IDR in human and yeast but not in Arabidopsis and maize. To investigate further we performed a bioinformatic survey for this IDR in Ensembl genome databases. The RPB4 N-terminal IDR are far more common in vertebrates than invertebrates. Interestingly, nearly all plant RPB4 lack an N-terminal IDR.
Keywords: RNA Polymerase II, Intrinsically Disordered Region, bioinformatic, RPB4, phylogeny
Topic(s):Biology
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA