Time to transcribe a gene

Range yeast 25 - 50 sec: typical mammalian gene 2 -3 min: long intron-containing human genes ≤16 hours
Organism Eukaryotes
Reference Pérez-Ortín JE, Alepuz PM, Moreno J. Genomics and gene transcription kinetics in yeast. Trends Genet. 2007 23: 250–257. p.250 left column bottom paragraphPubMed ID17379352
Primary Source [3] Tennyson, C.N. et al. (1995) The human dystrophin gene requires 16 hours to be transcribed and is cotranscriptionally spliced. Nat. Genet. 9, 184–190 [6] Dujon, B. (1996) The yeast genome project: what did we learn? Trends Genet. 12, 263–270 [7] Hargrove, J.L. et al. (1991) The kinetics of mammalian gene expression. BioEssays 13, 667–674PubMed ID7719347, 8763498, 1789784
Comments p.250 left column bottom paragraph:"Cells need to cope with the ‘time factor’ throughout the process of modification of gene expression. For example, the transcription and translation processes take place at a limited speed. RNA polymerase II has been calculated to travel at ~18–42 nucleotides per second on chromatin templates [refs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5]. This speed might not be constant across all genes and conditions, but if we take it to be a representative average value, then the time required to ‘read’ a gene is not negligible: 25–50 seconds for 1 kb (the average length of a yeast gene [primary source 6]) 2–3 minutes for a typical mammalian gene [primary source 7] and up to 16 hours for certain long intron-containing human genes [primary source 3]."
Entered by Uri M
ID 111611