Transcription termination and processing of transcripts from tRNA-related Xenopus satellite DNA sequences

Nucleotide sequence homologies have been found between the transcriptional unit of a Xenopus laevis satellite DNA containing 1037-bp monomeric repeats and tRNA-coding genes. Since the tRNA-homologous region forms only part of the transcriptional unit, we have analyzed the size of transcripts being made after injection of cloned DNA into Xenopus oocyte nuclei. Incubation for 6 h mainly results in three RNA species comprising 130, 180 and 196 nucleotides, which originate at the same initiation site but terminate at different T stretches. Longer incubation reveals a complex pattern of smaller RNAs most likely resulting from 3'-end processing of primary transcripts. All these RNAs are related to tRNA, since they contain the tRNA-homologous region which is close to the 5' end of the transcription unit.