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Elevated Amounts of a 7S Nuclear RNA with Sequence Homology to a Tumor Virus Promoter in Transformed and Tumorigenic Cells¹

Division of Molecular and Microbiology, Department of Biology University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N. B., E3B 6E1, Canada

A small nuclear RNA (7S-K) from cultured mammalian cells has been shown, in previous studies, to have the characteristics expected of a gene regulatory molecule, i.e., a tissue- and species-specific stimulatory activity for initiation of transcription of protein-coding genes. Moreover, in simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed mouse cells, this RNA was shown, by S₁-analysis, to bear an extensive homology to the SV40 promoter, suggesting that it acts by base-pairing to DNA in this region to facilitate the formation of the transcription-initiation complex. In order to investigate whether or not this homology is restricted to SV40-transformed cells and in any way related to transformation, a series of normal and transformed cell lines were examined for the degree of homology between their 7S-K RNAs and the SV40 promoter. Results show that the amount of 7S-K RNA hybridizable to the promoter varies as a direct function of the established degree of tumorigenic activity of the cells and is not dependent on the presence of SV40 sequences.

Taken together with the known overexpression of some cellular oncogenes in tumor tissues, these results suggest that this particular RNA may be involved in stimulating transcription of, at least, some of these genes.

¹ This investigation was supported by the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Terry Fox Grant Fund of New Brunswick.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 8/ 2/85. Revised 11/ 8/85. Accepted 12/11/85.