A characteristic of transcription by RNA polymerase II in eukaryotic cells is:
A) the absence of promoters elements.
B) translation initiation prior to transcription termination.
C) translation termination prior to transcription termination.
D) covalent addition of nucleotide(s) that are not encoded by DNA to the 5' and 3' ends of the transcript.
E) constitutive expression of most genes.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

RNA polymerase II adds a modified nucleotide cap (7-methylguanosine) to the 5' end of the mRNA and a string of 100-250 adenine nucleotides to the 3' end in a process called capping and polyadenylation, respectively. These nucleotides are not encoded by DNA, hence covalent addition of these non-encoded nucleotides occurs during transcription.

A Characteristic of Transcription by RNA Polymerase II in Eukaryotic