In the process of cellular transcription, short-lived intermediates called elongation complexes are formed. They contain matrix DNA, RNA, DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and transcription factors that regulate transcription parameters. The accumulated biochemical and structural data on transcriptional elongation complexes allow us to consider them as independent functional units. This article provides an analysis of published experimental and theoretical works, on the basis of which a hypothesis is put forward about the joint structural and functional evolution of the components of transcriptional elongation complexes.
Osina et al. (Thu,) studied this question.