Transcription Inhibition by PNA-Induced R-Loops

Abstract

R-loops are structures consisting of an RNA-DNA duplex and an unpaired DNA strand. They can form during transcription upon nascent RNA “threadback” invasion into the DNA duplex to displace the non-template DNA strand. R-loops occur naturally in all kingdoms of life, and they have multiple biological effects. Therefore, it is of interest to study the artificial induction of R-loops and to monitor their effects in model in vitro systems to learn mechanisms. Here we describe transcription blockage in vitro by R-loop formation induced by peptide nucleic acid (PNA) binding to the non-template DNA strand.