<h3>Title</h3>
<p><span style="color: #0000ff;">How a gene machine works: solving the puzzle, one molecule at a time</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Abstract</span> :</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the first step of transcription, a molecular machine called the RNA polymerase (RNAP) locates, binds,and unwinds segments of genomic DNA called promoters and initiates RNA-synthesis. Ensemblebiochemical experiments and high-resolution structures provide a starting point for understanding themechanism of this process. But they only reveal static snapshots of stabilized states and do not offerevidence on the functional nature of the structures, missing intermediates, and kinetics of sub-steps. As aresult, several aspects of the mechanism by which RNAP functions have remained puzzling for decades.Here, I will present an alternative approach of using real-time single-molecule experiments which monitorstructural changes in several mobile domains of RNAP (the clamp, the sigma-finger, and the trigger loop)during an active reaction. I will show how these studies capture signatures of on-pathway states andkinetics of individual sub-steps to help reveal the mechanism of transcription initiation and elongation.</p>