Evidence from UV transcription mapping in HeLa cells that heterogeneous nuclear RNA is the messenger RNA precursor.

The effects of UV irradiation on the incorporation of [3H]uridine in HeLa (human) cell mRNA, rRNA, heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA) and early mRNA from adenovirus type 2 have been compared. The UV target size of cell mRNA is at least 3 times larger than the average size of the mRNA itself and larger than the adenovirus-2 early mRNA, which is known to derive from transcription units of about 1.5-5.0 kilobases. The UV target size of hnRNA, in contrast, is about the same as its size determined by sedimentation and overlaps with the target size of mRNA. It is concluded that most mRNA derives from a higher molecular weight hnRNA molecule.