{"doi":"10.1126/science.abd1673","title":"Steps toward translocation-independent RNA polymerase inactivation by terminator ATPase ρ","abstract":"Factor-dependent transcription termination mechanisms are poorly understood. We determined a series of cryo-electron microscopy structures portraying the hexameric adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) ρ on a pathway to terminating NusA/NusG-modified elongation complexes. An open ρ ring contacts NusA, NusG, and multiple regions of RNA polymerase, trapping and locally unwinding proximal upstream DNA. NusA wedges into the ρ ring, initially sequestering RNA. Upon deflection of distal upstream DNA over the RNA polymerase zinc-binding domain, NusA rotates underneath one capping ρ subunit, which subsequently captures RNA. After detachment of NusG and clamp opening, RNA polymerase loses its grip on the RNA:DNA hybrid and is inactivated. Our structural and functional analyses suggest that ρ, and other termination factors across life, may use analogous strategies to allosterically trap transcription complexes in a moribund state.","journal":"Science","year":2020,"id":53197,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":121,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9532,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":270920,"name":"Tarek Hilal","orcid":"0000-0002-7833-8058","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270921,"name":"Nicholas D. Sunday","orcid":"0000-0003-1012-160X","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":272818,"name":"Ajay Khatri","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270922,"name":"Jörg Bürger","orcid":"0000-0002-4326-5047","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270923,"name":"Thorsten Mielke","orcid":"0000-0001-9275-3146","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270924,"name":"Georgiy A. Belogurov","orcid":"0000-0002-3070-6843","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270925,"name":"Bernhard Loll","orcid":"0000-0001-7928-4488","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270926,"name":"Ranjan Sen","orcid":"0000-0001-5693-787X","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270927,"name":"Irina Artsimovitch","orcid":"0000-0002-8604-0980","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270928,"name":"M.C. Wahl","orcid":"0000-0002-2811-5307","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":270919,"name":"Nelly Said","orcid":"0000-0001-8352-5555","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":83,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T20:44:25.349797Z","pmid":"33243850","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}