From: Dan Clemmensen (dgc@cox.rr.com)
Date: Sat Feb 09 2002 - 12:40:06 MST
Damien Broderick wrote:
> At 08:24 PM 2/4/02 -0500, Dan Clemmensen wrote:
>
>
>>The forward directions of the two strands are in
>>opposite directions. One end of a strand is called 3' (three-prime) and
>>the other is 5', but I've forgotten which is which.
>>
>
> but then threw in, for fun, this possibly misleading snippet:
>
>
>> RNA polymerase... runs down the "wrong"
>>(i.e. antisense) DNA strand toward its 5' end
>>
>
> Just to make it clear: DNA is transcribed from the 5-prime to the 3-prime
> end. What happens when the uncoiling hits the centrome? Beats me.
>
> Damien Broderick
>
>
Err, actually, the RNA polymerase transcribes toward the 5' end of the
antisense DNA, which is toward the 3' end of the "sense" DNA, and
building toward the 3' end of the RNA it is polymerizing. The resulting
RNA is a faithful RNA transcription of the "sense" DNA strand, but the
actual mechanics of the polymerase make a complement of the anti-sense
strand rather than a direct copy of the sense strand.
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