A novel transcription property of SP6 and T7 RNA polymerases: dependence on template structure.

The in vitro synthesis of extraneous RNA sequences by SP6 and T7 RNA polymerases from specific DNA templates is described. Transcription of templates prepared by digestion with restriction enzymes that leave 3' protruding ends resulted in the production of significant amounts of long, template-sized RNA transcripts which hybridized to vector DNA. Sequences copied from the noncoding template strand were among the extraneous transcripts. The presence of these sequences in probe preparations were detected in Southern and RNase protection hybridization assays. In contrast, transcription of DNA templates with blunt or 5' protruding ends yielded few RNA products as extraneous sequences.