Identification of a structural gene for a RNA polymerase II polypeptide in Drosophila melanogaster and mammalian species.

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Abstract
Using subclones representing 14 kilobase pairs (kb) of DNA from the D. melanogaster RNA polymerase II (EC 2.7.7.6) X-linked genetic locus, RpII, 4 poly(A)+ RNA transcripts were identified in adult flies. The DNA encoded only one of these, a 7-kb transcript, cross-hybridized to mammalian DNA. DNA from .alpha.-amanitin-resistant (AmaR) Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and human cells was used to transform the temperature-sensitive (TS) RNA polymerase II Syrian hamster mutant TsAF8. The acquisition of the TS+ AmaR RNA polymerase II phenotype was accompanied by the appearance of donor-DNA-specific restriction fragments that cross-hybridize to the D. melanogaster 7-kb transcript DNA. This D. melanogaster DNA and the related DNA detected in mammalian species must therefore be the structural gene for a RNA polymerase II polypeptide.