Skip to main content
PMC home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1988 Feb 25;16(4):1319–1331. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.4.1319

Transcription of human 7S K DNA in vitro and in vivo is exclusively controlled by an upstream promoter.

H Kleinert 1, B J Benecke 1
PMCID: PMC336317  PMID: 2450332

Abstract

We have analyzed the transcription of a recently isolated human 7S K RNA gene in vitro and in vivo. In contrast to hitherto characterized class III genes (genes transcribed by RNA polymerase III), the coding sequence of this gene is not required for faithful and efficient transcription by RNA polymerase III. In fact, a procaryotic vector DNA sequence was efficiently transcribed by RNA polymerase III under the control of the 7S K RNA gene upstream sequence in vitro and in vivo. S1-nuclease protection analyses confirmed that the 7S K 5'flanking sequence was sufficient for accurate transcription initiation. These data demonstrate that 7S K DNA represents a novel class III gene, the promoter elements of which are located outside the coding sequence.

Full text

PDF
1319

Images in this article

1323Image
on p.1323
1325Image
on p.1325
1326Image
on p.1326

Selected References

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

  1. Akusjärvi G., Mathews M. B., Andersson P., Vennström B., Pettersson U. Structure of genes for virus-associated RNAI and RNAII of adenovirus type 2. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 May;77(5):2424–2428. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.5.2424. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baker R. E., Gabrielsen O., Hall B. D. Effects of tRNATyr point mutations on the binding of yeast RNA polymerase III transcription factor C. J Biol Chem. 1986 Apr 25;261(12):5275–5282. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bark C., Weller P., Zabielski J., Janson L., Pettersson U. A distant enhancer element is required for polymerase III transcription of a U6 RNA gene. Nature. 1987 Jul 23;328(6128):356–359. doi: 10.1038/328356a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Benecke B. J., Penman S. A new class of small nuclear RNA molecules synthesized by a type I RNA polymerase in HeLa cells. Cell. 1977 Dec;12(4):939–946. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90158-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bieker J. J., Martin P. L., Roeder R. G. Formation of a rate-limiting intermediate in 5S RNA gene transcription. Cell. 1985 Jan;40(1):119–127. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90315-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bogenhagen D. F., Brown D. D. Nucleotide sequences in Xenopus 5S DNA required for transcription termination. Cell. 1981 Apr;24(1):261–270. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90522-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bogenhagen D. F., Sakonju S., Brown D. D. A control region in the center of the 5S RNA gene directs specific initiation of transcription: II. The 3' border of the region. Cell. 1980 Jan;19(1):27–35. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90385-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Carbon P., Murgo S., Ebel J. P., Krol A., Tebb G., Mattaj L. W. A common octamer motif binding protein is involved in the transcription of U6 snRNA by RNA polymerase III and U2 snRNA by RNA polymerase II. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):71–79. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90011-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ciliberto G., Castagnoli L., Melton D. A., Cortese R. Promoter of a eukaryotic tRNAPro gene is composed of three noncontiguous regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Feb;79(4):1195–1199. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.4.1195. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ciliberto G., Raugei G., Costanzo F., Dente L., Cortese R. Common and interchangeable elements in the promoters of genes transcribed by RNA polymerase iii. Cell. 1983 Mar;32(3):725–733. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90058-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. DeFranco D., Sharp S., Söll D. Identification of regulatory sequences contained in the 5'-flanking region of Drosophila lysine tRNA2 genes. J Biol Chem. 1981 Dec 10;256(23):12424–12429. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Fowlkes D. M., Shenk T. Transcriptional control regions of the adenovirus VAI RNA gene. Cell. 1980 Nov;22(2 Pt 2):405–413. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90351-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Galli G., Hofstetter H., Birnstiel M. L. Two conserved sequence blocks within eukaryotic tRNA genes are major promoter elements. Nature. 1981 Dec 17;294(5842):626–631. doi: 10.1038/294626a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Gorman C. M., Merlino G. T., Willingham M. C., Pastan I., Howard B. H. The Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat is a strong promoter when introduced into a variety of eukaryotic cells by DNA-mediated transfection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Nov;79(22):6777–6781. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.22.6777. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Graham F. L., van der Eb A. J. A new technique for the assay of infectivity of human adenovirus 5 DNA. Virology. 1973 Apr;52(2):456–467. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(73)90341-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hofstetter H., Kressman A., Birnstiel M. L. A split promoter for a eucaryotic tRNA gene. Cell. 1981 May;24(2):573–585. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90348-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Krüger W., Benecke B. J. Structural and functional analysis of a human 7 S K RNA gene. J Mol Biol. 1987 May 5;195(1):31–41. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(87)90325-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lassar A. B., Martin P. L., Roeder R. G. Transcription of class III genes: formation of preinitiation complexes. Science. 1983 Nov 18;222(4625):740–748. doi: 10.1126/science.6356356. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Murphy J. T., Burgess R. R., Dahlberg J. E., Lund E. Transcription of a gene for human U1 small nuclear RNA. Cell. 1982 May;29(1):265–274. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90111-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Murphy S., Di Liegro C., Melli M. The in vitro transcription of the 7SK RNA gene by RNA polymerase III is dependent only on the presence of an upstream promoter. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):81–87. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90012-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Murphy S., Tripodi M., Melli M. A sequence upstream from the coding region is required for the transcription of the 7SK RNA genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1986 Dec 9;14(23):9243–9260. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.23.9243. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Pieler T., Hamm J., Roeder R. G. The 5S gene internal control region is composed of three distinct sequence elements, organized as two functional domains with variable spacing. Cell. 1987 Jan 16;48(1):91–100. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90359-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Reichel R., Benecke B. J. Reinitiation of synthesis of small cytoplasmic RNA species K and L in isolated HeLa cell nuclei in vitro. Nucleic Acids Res. 1980 Jan 25;8(2):225–234. doi: 10.1093/nar/8.2.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Roop D. R., Kristo P., Stumph W. E., Tsai M. J., O'Malley B. W. Structure and expression of a chicken gene coding for U1 RNA. Cell. 1981 Mar;23(3):671–680. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90430-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sakonju S., Bogenhagen D. F., Brown D. D. A control region in the center of the 5S RNA gene directs specific initiation of transcription: I. The 5' border of the region. Cell. 1980 Jan;19(1):13–25. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90384-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Sakonju S., Brown D. D., Engelke D., Ng S. Y., Shastry B. S., Roeder R. G. The binding of a transcription factor to deletion mutants of a 5S ribosomal RNA gene. Cell. 1981 Mar;23(3):665–669. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(81)90429-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Segall J., Matsui T., Roeder R. G. Multiple factors are required for the accurate transcription of purified genes by RNA polymerase III. J Biol Chem. 1980 Dec 25;255(24):11986–11991. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Setzer D. R., Brown D. D. Formation and stability of the 5 S RNA transcription complex. J Biol Chem. 1985 Feb 25;260(4):2483–2492. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Sharp S., DeFranco D., Dingermann T., Farrell P., Söll D. Internal control regions for transcription of eukaryotic tRNA genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Nov;78(11):6657–6661. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.11.6657. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Sollner-Webb B., Reeder R. H. The nucleotide sequence of the initiation and termination sites for ribosomal RNA transcription in X. laevis. Cell. 1979 Oct;18(2):485–499. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90066-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Ullu E., Weiner A. M. Upstream sequences modulate the internal promoter of the human 7SL RNA gene. 1985 Nov 28-Dec 4Nature. 318(6044):371–374. doi: 10.1038/318371a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Weil P. A., Segall J., Harris B., Ng S. Y., Roeder R. G. Faithful transcription of eukaryotic genes by RNA polymerase III in systems reconstituted with purified DNA templates. J Biol Chem. 1979 Jul 10;254(13):6163–6173. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Weinmann R., Brendler T. G., Raskas H. J., Roeder R. G. Low molecular weight viral RNAs transcribed by RNA polymerase III during adenovirus 2 infection. Cell. 1976 Apr;7(4):557–566. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(76)90206-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Weinmann R., Roeder R. G. Role of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase 3 in the transcription of the tRNA and 5S RNA genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 May;71(5):1790–1794. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.5.1790. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Zieve G., Benecke B. J., Penman S. Synthesis of two classes of small RNA species in vivo and in vitro. Biochemistry. 1977 Oct 4;16(20):4520–4525. doi: 10.1021/bi00639a029. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES