Effect of Intercalating Agents on RNA Polymerase I Promoter Selection in Xenopus Laevis

Overview

Journal Mol Cell Biol

Specialty Cell Biology

Date 1984 Dec 1

PMID 6543244

Citations 9

Authors

S C Pruitt

R H Reeder

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We have analyzed the effect of DNA intercalating agents on the transcription signals from two different Xenopus laevis RNA polymerase I promoters. The transcription signal from the promoter for the 7.5-kilobase rRNA precursor (the gene promoter) is unaffected over a large range of intercalating agent concentrations regardless of whether the template is injected plasmid DNA in oocytes, the amplified endogenous nucleoli of oocytes, or the endogenous chromosomes of cultured Xenopus kidney cells. The transcription signal from a closely related promoter located in the spacer DNA between genes (the spacer promoter) ranges between undetectable to equivalent to the gene promoter signal on different templates. The transcription signal from the spacer promoter is also differentially affected by intercalating agents relative to the gene promoter. Depending on the template, these agents can either increase or decrease the transcription signal from the spacer promoter. Fusions between the gene and spacer promoters demonstrate that intercalating agents affect transcription initiation. One explanation for these results is that the degree of supercoiling of the template DNA can differentially inhibit transcription from the spacer promoters. The different effects of intercalating agents on transcription from the spacer promoters of various templates could then be explained as differences in the degree of supercoiling present on these templates initially.

Citing Articles

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In vivo transcription from multiple spacer rRNA gene promoters during early development and evolution of the intergenic spacer in the brine shrimp Artemia.

Koller H, Frondorf K, Maschner P, Vaughn J Nucleic Acids Res. 1987; 15(13):5391-411.

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Expression of ribosomal insertion in Drosophila: sensitivity to intercalating drugs.

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Eukaryotic type I topoisomerase is enriched in the nucleolus and catalytically active on ribosomal DNA.

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A test of 'polymerase handover' as a mechanism for stimulating initiation by RNA polymerase I.

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