Transcription of High‐Molecular‐Weight RNA from Hen‐Oviduct Chromatin by Bacterial and Endogenous Form‐B RNA Polymerases

1 With the aid of the ribonuclease inhibitor, heparin, techniques were developed to isolate high‐molecular‐weight RNA products synthesised by Micrococcus and homologous form B RNA polymerases using hen oviduct chromatin as template. These methods are suitable for analysis of RNA transcripts synthesised in vitro by a variety of enzymes and templates. 2 A highly sensitive assay for ribonuclease, based on the ability of the latter to degrade ovalbumin mRNA, confirmed that chromatin and enzyme samples contained significant amounts of ribonuclease activity. 3 Heparin completely inhibits initiation of both bacterial and homologous enzymes, but has no effect on elongation. The average rates of elongation of RNA polymerases on chromatin DNA could therefore be determined. These values were 3–6 nucleotides per second for bacterial enzyme and 1–2 nucleotides per second for homologous enzyme. 4 By allowing initiation of bacterial enzyme prior to the addition of heparin, RNA chains approaching 2000 nucleotides in length (molecular weight 0.7 X 10 6 ) were synthesised after 1 min; at later times, these chains exceeded 5000 nucleotides in length. 5 Hen oviduct chromatin contains endogenous RNA polymerase activity which represents predominantly the elongation of form B enzymes. RNA chains ranging from 100 to 2000 nucleotides long are still attached to these enzymes in isolated chromatin. By allowing elongation of these chains in vitro , products ranging from 2000 to 10000 nucleotides in length (molecular weight 0.7 to 3.0 X 10 6 ) were synthesised. 6 Estimates of the number of endogenous RNA polymerases bound to chromatin DNA suggest that approximately 10% of the total form B RNA polymerase molecules per cell are retained in the isolated chromatin fraction.