Termination of the ovalbumin gene transcription.

RNA transcribed in vivo from the chicken ovalbumin gene has been analyzed in detail in the 3' region of the gene using nuclease S1 mapping and Northern blotting. We describe two new additional minor polyadenylation sites leading to pre-messenger RNA with lengths of approximately 7900 and 9700 nucleotides. Hybridization of RNA transcribed in vitro from oviduct nuclei with various immobilized DNA fragments covering the 3' region of the gene indicates that greater than 90% of transcription terminates in a discrete region of 170 bp located approximately 900 bp downstream from the 3' end of the last exon. Two copies of a sequence homologous to the one proposed for yeast transcription termination are present within the region where transcription of the ovalbumin gene terminates.