Transcript Assisted Phosphodiester Bond Hydrolysis By Eukaryotic Rna Polymerase Ii

Hydrolysis of the phosphodiester bonds of the transcript by bacterial RNA polymerase is assisted by 3'NMP of the RNA. Here we provide evidence that this mechanism is also involved in RNA cleavage by eukaryotic RNA polymerase II, suggesting that transcript assisted hydrolysis has emerged before divergence of bacteria and archaea/eukaryotes.