Transcription of 5S RNA by RNA polymerase III from genomic bovine DNA templates

Abstract
RNA polymerase III in an extract of HeLa cells transcribes RNA 5S in size from genomic bovine DNA template. This RNA represents a major fraction of the RNA synthesized. 5S RNA is not transcribed from bovine chromatin at equivalent concentrations and RNA the size of tRNA or tRNA precursor is not detected. At low UTP concentrations RNA slightly smaller in size than 5S is synthesized in addition to 5S RNA.