ABSTRACT
This chapter, the authors aim to their analysis of well-characterized class III genes encoding transfer RNA, 5S RNA, and adenovirus VA RNA. The factors that are required, along with RNA polymerase III, for transcription of purified class III genes have been analyzed by chromatographic fractionation of crude cellular extracts. The RNA polymerase III factors from human and amphibian cells are chromatographically similar and mediate, in homologous and heterologous combinations, accurate transcription of both amphibian and mammalian class III genes. To further the authors’ understanding of basic transcription mechanisms for eukaryotic genes, and ultimately the regulation thereof, they investigated the transcription factor requirements for formation of stable complexes on specific genes. The transformation of a metastable complex of factor A and the 5S gene into a stable complex is reminiscent of the transition of a bacterial RNA polymerase “closed” promoter complex into a stable “open” complex.
