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AAT Bioquest

What does RNA polymerase do in bacteria?

Posted October 28, 2021


Answer

RNA polymerase is responsible for synthesizing RNA in bacteria. It does this by copying a DNA sequence into an RNA sequence, during the process of transcription. Unlike eukaryotes which contain different types of RNA polymerase, bacteria, which is a prokaryote, contains a single type of RNA polymerase to transcribe all of their RNA. 

Additional resources

Mechanisms for activating bacterial RNA polymerase

MycoLight™ Flow Cytometric Live Bacteria Assay Kit