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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
. 1982 Nov;79(22):6908–6911. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.22.6908

Nucleotide sequence requirements for specific initiation of transcription by RNA polymerase I.

I Grummt
PMCID: PMC347243  PMID: 6294665

Abstract

The nucleotide sequence(s) specifying RNA polymerase I initiation has been investigated by studying the transcription of deleted and nondeleted mouse ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) templates in vitro. The deletion of 5'-flanking sequences upstream from position -- 39 did not affect transcriptional activity, but removal of sequences between positions -- 39 and -- 34 resulted in a 90% decrease of rDNA transcription. The template activity was completely eliminated by the further deletion of nucleotides -- 33 to -- 13. It is concluded that sequences between -- 34 and -- 12, upstream from the transcribed region, represent an essential control region for the initiation of transcription in vitro. Therefore, this region may be functionally analogous to the T-A-T-A box of RNA polymerase II promoters. In addition to this control region, sequences located further upstream (between positions -- 45 and -- 169) may also exert some function in efficient transcription initiation as revealed by competition experiments between wildtype and mutant rDNA templates.

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Selected References

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

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