Twisting in Transcription - In the case of twisting, the regulatory proteins are thought to bind to some altered form of DNA (e.g. left handed DNA or single stranded DNA) or regulatory protein that has an enzymatic activity that alters DNA conformation.

Gene activation would be a consequence of conformational change propagated through the DNA, which allows other proteins to bind and begin transcription.

All known or suspected regulatory proteins isolated from prokaryotes and eukaryotes are believed to recognize ordinary helical DNA.