Nucleotide sequence surrounding multiple polyadenylation sites in the mouse dihydrofolate reductase gene

We have previously reported the presence of four dihydrofolate reductase messenger RNAs differing in the length of 3' untranslated regions in murine cells (Setzer, D. R., McGrogan, M., Nunberg, J. H., and Schimke, R. T. (1980) Cell 22, 361-370). We have now mapped the 3' ends of these RNAs more precisely and have demonstrated colinearity between their shared sequences. Analysis of three larger dihydrofolate reductase RNAs has shown that these RNA species contain very long 3' noncoding regions, bringing the total number of dihydrofolate reductase RNAs to seven, ranging in length from 750 to 5600 nucleotides. We have determined the nucleotide sequence at and surrounding the polyadenylation sites of the four smaller RNAs. We find no striking structures in this sequence that might constitute multiple polyadenylation signals, but conclude that the putative polyadenylation signal AAUAAA is not required for polyadenylation of at least three of the four dihydrofolate reductase messengers.