Replicon size of yeast ribosomal DNA.

The ribosomal RNAs of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are transcribed from a 9K bp stretch of DNA which is reiterated about 120-fold in a continuous array, about 360 microns long, on chromosome XII. Although ARS activity has been detected in the repeat unit, the size and disposition of replicons along this array of identical genes has not hitherto been determined. We have used immobilised rRNA as a probe to examine the size of radioactively labelled rDNA replicons resolved on alkaline sucrose gradients. The replicons were found to be uniformly sized, about 5 repeat units in length, and groups of 4 adjacent replicons may be activated simultaneously. These observations suggest that replicon initiation events are not determined solely by the recognition of specific DNA sequences that function as origins of replication.