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About Transcription

Transcription is a new peer-reviewed, bi-monthly journal launching in July 2010 that will publish high-quality articles providing novel insights, provocative questions and new hypothesis into the expanding field of gene transcription. The journal will cover all aspects of transcription: from biochemical and molecular approaches, to cellular, structural and evolutionary views. In addition to papers that use conventional strategies to study both prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription, the journal will welcome manuscripts using innovative methodologies such as genome-wide analyses, single molecule and biophysical studies, protein structure, imaging and systems biology.

Why a new journal?

Although the field of transcription is as old as the enunciation of the “central dogma” of molecular biology, there is a renewed interest and expansion mainly due to the key role played by the transcription process in physiological and pathological cell differentiation in response to environmental signals and mutation. Two additional examples illustrate the immense fertility and timeliness of the field: (1) We are just beginning to understand how eukaryotic transcription serves as the interface between epigenetics and RNA processing, two fields previously assumed to be independent. (2) Very little is known about the importance and regulation of intergenic and generalized transcription in eukaryotes and of its relationship with the production and action of small RNAs. Transcription aims to become the primary source and a forum for researchers involved in the understanding of the diverse processes involved in basal and regulated transcription. The journal will not only be interested in research that uses model systems to discover and investigate transcriptional mechanisms, but also in studies aimed at understanding and providing treatment for diseases that involve transcriptional processes.

Topics

Transcription will publish papers on topics that include, but are certainly not limited to,  transcriptional initiation, elongation and termination, promoter structure and function, the role of cis-regulatory elements that affect gene function locally and globally, and the structure, function and regulation of general and specific transcription factors, RNA polymerases, repressors and activators. In addition, the following themes are of special interest: the connections of pre-mRNA and other RNAs processing to upstream events in transcription, the involvement of small RNAs in transcriptional gene silencing and genome defense, the interplay between nuclear architecture, genome organization, and gene expression, the integration of transcriptional and translational response mechanisms to external stimuli, and the cross-talk between transcription and chromatin. The use of original approaches that apply powerful new experimental technologies to answer standing questions in the field are especially welcome.

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