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

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1983-06, Vol.80 (11), p.3396-3400
• Main Authors: Ingles, C.J, Biggs, J, Wong, J.K.C, Weeks, J.R, Greenleaf, A.L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animal breeding; animal genetics; Animals; arthropods; Cell lines; CHO cells; Cloning, Molecular; Cricetinae; Cricetulus; DNA; DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - enzymology; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; entomology; Genes; Genetic loci; Genetic mutation; Genomics; Mesocricetus; Mutation; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Peptides - genetics; RNA; RNA Polymerase II - genetics; Species Specificity; Transcription, Genetic; Transformed cell line; Transposons
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.80.11.3396

Using subclones representing 14 kilobase pairs (kb) of DNA from the Drosophila melanogaster RNA polymerase II (EC 2.7.7.6) X-linked genetic locus, RpII, we have identified four poly(A)+RNA transcripts in adult flies. The DNA encoding only one of these, a 7-kb transcript, cross-hybridized to mammalian DNA. DNA from α -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+AmaRRNA 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.