= Dong Wang
{c}
<Dong Wang> is a researcher in <structural biology> studying <transcription> and its relationship to <DNA repair>. His work combines structural and biochemical methods to investigate how molecular machines copy genetic information and respond to damage.<Dong Wang research profile at UC San Diego>[Overview and Stanford structural-biology training]{ref}
A 2006 study by <Dong Wang> and collaborators examined structures of actively transcribing <RNA polymerase II>. The <RNA polymerase trigger loop> adopted a closed arrangement beneath a correctly positioned <nucleoside triphosphate>, contacting its base, sugar and phosphates. These observations suggested how recognition of the correct substrate could be coupled to formation of a new <phosphodiester bond>.<Structural basis of transcription: role of the trigger loop in substrate specificity and catalysis by Dong Wang and others>[Abstract and Figures2–3: trigger-loop conformations and nucleotide contacts]{ref}
For example, recognizing only the <nucleobase> would leave an incomplete explanation of substrate choice: contacts with the sugar and phosphates also help position the incoming molecule. The structural comparison supplies specific interactions to test experimentally. A set of structures samples molecular arrangements; it does not by itself provide a frame-by-frame movie of the reaction.
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{title=Dong Wang}
{description=Photo explicitly identified on the https://profiles.ucsd.edu/dong.wang[UC San Diego institutional profile] for the transcription and DNA-repair researcher.}
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