Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1986 Jan;83(2):374–378. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.2.374

Upstream sequences confer distinctive transcriptional properties on genes encoding silkgland-specific tRNAAla.

L S Young, N Takahashi, K U Sprague
PMCID: PMC322861  PMID: 3455775

Abstract

To understand the molecular basis for the tissue-specific accumulation of alanine tRNAs in silkworms, we have compared the transcriptional properties of genes that encode constitutive and silkgland-specific type alanine tRNA. Genes for each class of alanine tRNA behave very differently when used as templates for homologous in vitro transcription. Since these properties are likely related to the activities of the corresponding genes in vivo, we wished to identify the cis-acting elements responsible for them. We have therefore constructed hybrid silkgland-specific/constitutive genes and have analyzed their capacity to direct transcription in vitro. We find a simple pattern: the distinctive transcriptional properties of the two kinds of tRNAAla genes are the result of different positive signals upstream from their sites of transcription initiation.

Full text

PDF
374

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Fournier A., Guérin M. A., Corlet J., Clarkson S. G. Structure and in vitro transcription of a glycine tRNA gene from Bombyx mori. EMBO J. 1984 Jul;3(7):1547–1552. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb02009.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Garel J. P., Mandel P., Chavancy G., Daillie J. Functional adaptation of tRNAs to fibroin biosynthesis in the silkgland of Bombyx mori L. FEBS Lett. 1970 May 1;7(4):327–329. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(70)80196-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hagenbüchle O., Larson D., Hall G. I., Sprague K. U. The primary transcription product of a silkworm alanine tRNA gene: identification of in vitro sites of initiation, termination and processing. Cell. 1979 Dec;18(4):1217–1229. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90234-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Larson D., Bradford-Wilcox J., Young L. S., Sprague K. U. A short 5' flanking region containing conserved sequences is required for silkworm alanine tRNA gene activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Jun;80(11):3416–3420. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.11.3416. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Louis D. S., Spiegelman G. B. Steady-state kinetic analysis of transcription of cloned tRNASer genes from Drosophila melanogaster. Eur J Biochem. 1985 Apr 15;148(2):305–313. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1985.tb08840.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Matsuzaki K. Fractionation of amino acid-specific s-RNA from silkgland by methylated albumin column chromatography. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1966 Feb 21;114(2):222–226. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(66)90303-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Messing J., Vieira J. A new pair of M13 vectors for selecting either DNA strand of double-digest restriction fragments. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):269–276. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Meza L., Araya A., Leon G., Krauskopf M. Specific alanine-tRNA species associated with fibroin biosynthesis in the posterior sild-gland of Bombyx mori L. FEBS Lett. 1977 May 15;77(2):255–260. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(77)80246-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Morton D. G., Sprague K. U. In vitro transcription of a silkworm 5S RNA gene requires an upstream signal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Sep;81(17):5519–5522. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.17.5519. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sprague K. U., Hagenbüchle O., Zuniga M. C. The nucleotide sequence of two silk gland alanine tRNAs: implications for fibroin synthesis and for initiator tRNA structure. Cell. 1977 Jul;11(3):561–570. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90074-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sprague K. U., Larson D., Morton D. 5' flanking sequence signals are required for activity of silkworm alanine tRNA genes in homologous in vitro transcription systems. Cell. 1980 Nov;22(1 Pt 1):171–178. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90165-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wilson E. T., Larson D., Young L. S., Sprague K. U. A large region controls tRNA gene transcription. J Mol Biol. 1985 May 25;183(2):153–163. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90209-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES