DRB-induced premature termination of late adenovirus transcription

Abstract
Exposure of [human cervical carcinoma] HeLa cells to 5,6-dichloro-1-.beta.-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazde (DRB) late in the course of adenovirus 2 infection results in the inhibition of virus-specific RNA synthesis from all parts of the previously identified, very long (.apprx. 28 kilobases) late transcriptional unit, except for the first .apprx. 400-800 nucleotides. DRB probably acts not as an inhibitor of RNA chain initiation, but causes premature chain termination close to the promoter. A practical aspect of these findings may be that RNA sequences near promoter sites that are responsible for mRNA formation can be isolated from DRB-treated cells.