Replication of the extrachromosomal ribosomal RNA genes of Tetrahymena thermophilia.

Cultures of Tetrahymena thermophila were deprived of nutrients and later refed with enriched medium to obtain partial synchrony of DNA replication. Preferential replication of the extrachromosomal, macronuclear ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) was found to occur at 40-80 min after refeeding. The rDNA accounted for one half of the label incorporated into cellular DNA during this period. Electron microscopy of the purified rDNA showed 1% replicative intermediates. Their structure was that expected for bidirectional replication of the linear rDNA from an origin or origins located in the central nontranscribed region of the palindromic molecule. Similar forms had previously been observed for the rDNA of a related species, Tetrahymena pyriformis. The electron microscopic data was consistent with an origin of replication located approximatley 600 base pairs from the center of the rDNA of T. thermophila, in contrast to a more central location in the rDNA of T. pyriformis. One implication of an off-center origin of replication is that there are two such sequences per palindromic molecule.