title: Purification and characterization of a mammalian polyadenylate polymerase involved in the 3' end processing of messenger RNA precursors.
abstract: A polyadenylate polymerase involved in the polyadenylation of pre-mRNA has been purified 6,000-fold to apparent homogeneity from extracts of calf thymus. In the last purification step, anion exchange chromatography separates the enzyme into three major peaks that are indistinguishable by other physical or functional criteria. On denaturing polyacrylamide gels, the two predominant forms of poly(A) polymerase have molecular weights of 57,000 and 60,000. In solution, the enzyme is a monomer. It polymerizes exclusively ATP. The reaction is distributive and proceeds linearly without any lag phase. The requirement for a primer can be satisfied by any of a number of polyribonucleotides. A significantly higher activity in the presence of Mn2+ as opposed to Mg2+ is due to a hundredfold higher affinity for the primer terminus. In the presence of mg2+ and of a specificity factor partially purified from HeLa cells, the enzyme specifically polyadenylates an RNA that ends at the natural adenovirus L3 polyadenylation site. This reaction depends on the AAUAAA polyadenylation signal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wahle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006367:HeLa Cells; D007700:Kinetics; D008322:Mammals; D011062:Polynucleotide Adenylyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012322:RNA Precursors / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D012322:RNA Precursors; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011062:Polynucleotide Adenylyltransferase