Relationship between the two components of the split promoter of eukaryotic tRNA genes.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Plasmids containing eukaryotic tRNA genes are faithfully transcribed in the nucleus of Xenopus laevis oocytes. Two separated regions within the coding sequence of a tRNA gene are essential and sufficient for promotion of transcription. A hybrid tRNA gene containing one essential region from t[transfer]DNALeu and the other from tDNAPro, both from Caenorhabditis elegans, was constructed. This hybrid gene is efficiently transcribed, thus showing that the essential regions are independent transcriptional signals regardless of the overall regularities of the structure of tRNA genes. Mutants of the tRNAPhe gene were also constructed in which the distance between the 2 essential regions is changed; optimal transcription occurs when this distance is about 40-50 nucleotides.