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Comparison of the Sequence Complexity and Abundance Frequency of Polyadenylated Messenger RNA in Human Breast and Prostate Carcinoma Cells

Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20205

The sequence complexity and frequency distribution of polyadenylated [poly(A)⁺] messenger RNA (mRNA) in human breast and prostate carcinoma cells were compared by the kinetics of homologous and heterologous mRNA:complementary DNA hybridization. The apparent total sequence complexity of human breast cell poly(A)⁺ RNA was estimated to be about 47,300 kilobases (kb). It appeared to be distributed in three abundance classes comprising about 14 (32 kb), 43 (2,000 kb), and 43% (45,270 kb) of the total. The poly(A)⁺ mRNA of human prostate cells also appeared to be organized in three abundance classes: the highest-abundance class comprising about 15% of the total with an approximate complexity of 88 kb; an intermediate-abundance class comprising about 32% of the total with a complexity of about 2,330 kb; and a low-abundance class which was about 53% of the total and had an estimated complexity of 66,840 kb. The results of heterologous hybridization reaction suggested that about 75 to 80% of the poly(A)⁺ mRNA sequences present in human breast cells were also present in human prostate cells. Similarly, about 75 to 80% of the sequences in human prostate cells appeared to be present in human breast cells. The sequences held in common by these two cell types appeared to be present in roughly similar relative abundance. The hybridization of kinetically fractionated abundant complementary DNA of breast or prostate cells with homologous and heterologous poly(A)⁺ mRNA suggested that the abundant sequences of one cell type (e.g., breast) were present in reduced abundance in the other cell type (e.g., prostate) but only by a factor of 2 to 4. Nearly all of the abundant sequences of one cell type appeared to be present in the second cell type.

¹ Present address: Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Md. 20205.

Received 3/ 3/81. Accepted 6/16/81.