Introduction

Transcription：

The transcription stage is composed of four steps: promoter binding and the activation of RNA polymerase, RNA transcript initiation and promoter escape, RNA transcript elongation, and transcript termination, and release. In this stage, genetic information is read from DNA.

What is terminator?

Terminators are genetic parts that cause transcription to stop, which usually occur at the end of a gene or operon. In prokaryotes, terminators usually fall into two categories (1) rho-independent terminators and (2) rho-dependent terminators.

Rho-independent terminators are generally composed of palindromic sequence that forms a stem loop rich in G-C base pairs followed by several T bases. The conventional model of transcriptional termination is that the stem loop causes RNA polymerase to pause and transcription of the poly-A tail causes the RNA:DNA duplex to unwind and dissociate from RNA polymerase.

Terminator Efficiency：

Although terminators are positioned at the ends of genes, they also play irreplaceable roles. The imperfect termination is very important in control of the ratio of mRNA transcribed from upstream and downstream. This regulation is qualified by the termination efficiency.

Software：

We also developed a software and a web server for people to calculate their terminators and built a database of terminator efficiency which we believe is the largest database of such kind.

Algorithm：

Now, our algorithm is mainly based on a algorithm put forward by d'Aubenton Carafa. Also, we had a look at other terminator-finding algorithms.

Tutorial：

Our software is easy to use. If you need any help, click here.