Minimal model of transcriptional elongation processes with pauses
  Fundamental biological processes such as transcription and translation, where a genetic sequence is sequentially read by a macromolecule, have been well described by a classical model of non-equilibrium statistical physics, the totally asymmetric exclusion principle (TASEP). This model describes particles hopping between sites of a one-dimensional lattice, with the particle current determining the transcription or translation rate. An open problem is how to analyze a TASEP where particles can pause randomly, as has been observed during transcription. In this work, we report that surprisingly, a simple mean-field model predicts well the particle current for all values of the average pause duration, using a simple description of blocking behind paused particles. 
Jingkui Wang (PhLAM), Benjamin Pfeuty (PhLAM), Quentin Thommen   (PhLAM), Carmen Romano (SUPA), Marc Lefranc (PhLAM)
q-bio.QM q-bio.SC