title: Organization and nucleotide sequence of the genes encoding the large subunits A, B and C of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.
abstract: The genes for the three large subunits A, B and C, of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius DSM 639, were identified and characterized. The three genes follow each other immediately in the order B-A-C, which corresponds to that found in the rpoBC operon of the Escherichia coli genome. The transcription products formed in vivo were studied by Northern analysis and the start-points were determined by S1-nuclease mapping and primer directed extension analysis. The three RNA polymerase subunit genes were co-transcribed together with an open reading frame (ORF) of 88 amino acid residues length situated immediately upstream of the B gene and two ORFs of 104 and 130 amino acid residues following the C gene (together 8500 nucleotides). The following ORF, encoding a protein of 118 amino acids homologous to the ribosomal protein S12 of E. coli, was weakly transcribed with the large co-transcript and strongly from an own promoter. The derived amino acid sequence of the B-subunit was found to be homologous to the B- (second largest) subunits of the eukaryotic nuclear polymerases I, II and III and to the eubacterial beta-subunit. The combined A + C-subunits correspond to the A- (largest) subunits of the eukaryotic RNA polymerases I, II and III and to the eubacterial beta'-subunit. The amino acid sequence similarity of the Sulfolobus subunits to the eukaryotic components is clearly higher than to the E. coli subunit.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, FRG.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pühler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lottspeich
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zillig
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001105:Archaea / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases