Nucleotide sequence of the 5'-terminal coding region for pre-rRNA and mature 17S rRNA in Tetrahymena thermophila rDNA.

The 5'-terminus of 35S pre-rRNA and mature 17S rRNA of Tetrahymena thermophila was mapped on cloned rDNA fragments by S1 nuclease protection experiments. A single site for transcription initiation was observed when pre-rRNA prepared by three different methods was used as RNA probe. These mapping results were unambiguously confirmed by sequencing the 5'-terminal region of in vitro capped 35S pre-rRNA. DNA sequence analysis of about 520 nucleotides upstream of the transcription initiation site revealed several distinct sets of highly conserved repeat sequences. In addition, the 840 nucleotides downstream of the transcription initiation site (+ 1) was determined and shown to include the 5'-terminus of the 17S rRNA coding region at position + 647. A region surrounding the position + 195 contains an inverted repeat sequence which could be the structural basis for the recently described premature transcription termination event in this organism (Kister et al. (1983) Nucl. Acids Res. 11, 3487-3502).