Molecular characterization of the Trypanosoma brucei RNA polymerase I and III largest subunit genes

We have sequenced a 7.1-kilobase fragment of the Trypanosoma brucei RNA polymerase (pol) I largest subunit gene. The 6.9-kilobase transcript from this gene is of roughly equal abundance in bloodstream- and procyclic-form trypanosomes and has a 39-nucleotide trans-spliced leader 290 nucleotides upsteam of the putative initiation codon. The 1781-amino acid trypanosome pol I polypeptide is considerably less similar to its yeast homolog than the trypanosome pol II and pol III polypeptides are to their counterparts in yeast. The yeast and trypanosome pol I polypeptides are distinguished from pol II and pol III largest subunits by two inserts, 100-200 amino acids in length, which are found in the nonconserved portions of the polypeptides. We also report our sequence of the trypanosome pol III largest subunit gene, which agrees with that reported by Köck et al. (Köck, J., Evers, R., and Cornelissen, A.W.C.A. (1988) Nucleic Acids Res. 16, 8753-8772) except for 13 nucleotide differences. Four spliced leader addition sites between 60 and 99 nucleotides upstream of the AUG initiation codon were observed for the 5.4-kilobase transcript from this gene. Four short stretches of amino acid homology between the yeast and trypanosome pol III largest subunit polypeptides were identified which appear to be specific to this class of RNA polymerase; only one short pol I-specific sequence was identified in our comparison of the yeast and trypanosome pol I largest subunit polypeptides.