Biology student Banupriya Mukundan awarded paper of the week

The research work of Banupriya Mukundan, a Ph.D. student in Dr. Athar Ansari's lab, was recently recognized by the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Her recent research paper entitled, "A novel role for Mediator subunit Srb5/Med18 in termination of transcription," published in the October 28, 2011 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry was selected by editors of this journal as the 'Paper of the Week' because of its overall quality and significance.

Banupriya showed that Srb5, which is a subunit of Mediator complex associated with the initiation of transcription, also plays a role in the termination of transcription. These results challenge the dogma that the promoter-bound factors bring about enhancement of transcription by affecting the process at the initiation step only.

Banupriya's results suggest that a promoter-bound factor may also stimulate transcription by facilitating proper termination of mRNA synthesis by RNA polymerase II.