Transcription of a cloned Bombyx mori tRNA2Ala gene: nucleotide sequence of the tRNA precursor and its processing in vitro.

We have analyzed the transcription of a cloned silkworm tRNA2Ala gene in germinal vesicle extracts of X. laevis oocytes. The primary transcript was sequenced; it is 98 nucleotides long, beginning with a 5' triphosphate nucleotide and ending in a 3' oligouridine stretch. After transcription for long periods of time, enzymes in the frog extract also process the tRNA2Ala precursor to remove extra 5' and 3' nucleotides and to add a CCA end. The twenty-two extra nucleotides at the 3' end of this precursor are recovered as an intact fragment, implicating a new site of endoribonuclease cleavage in eucaryotic tRNA processing. This enzyme activity has also been demonstrated by reincubation of isolated pre-tRNA2Ala with a germinal vesicle extract. The products of in vitro cleavage are the same as those seen in the transcription reactions. The tRNA2Ala precursor molecules are made faithfully in the system with as few as 6 bp of Bombyx morti DNA upstream of the transcription initiation site of the tRNA2Ala gene. This result narrows down the minimal amount of DNA adjacent to the 5' end of a eucaryotic tRNA gene needed to support proper initiation by RNA polymerase III.