Agarose gel of rRNA from a Δ7 strain with rrn plasmids prrnB (lane A), pWD3 (lane B), and pWD4 (lane C). In panels B and C, the 23S rRNA is fragmented into pieces of 1,170 (23S’) and 1,738 (“23S) nucleotides, corresponding to the positions of the IVS element in helix 45.