The bacterial transcription repair coupling factor

The widely conserved bacterial transcription repair coupling factor (TRCF) is a large, multidomain, superfamily 2 ATPase. It couples nucleotide excision repair with transcription by dislodging inactive RNA polymerase molecules stalled at template DNA lesions and increasing the rate at which the Uvr(A)BC excinuclease acts at these sites. The recent elucidation of X-ray crystal structures of Escherichia coli TRCF revealed its architectural details, and will enable the design of more incisive experiments addressing how TRCF translocates on double-stranded DNA, destabilizes the RNA polymerase ternary elongation complex and recruits the Uvr(A)BC system.