Structure and function of the nontranscribed spacer regions of yeast rDNA

The sequences of the nontranscribed spacers (NTS) of cloned ribosomal DNA (rDNA) units from both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis were determined. The NTS sequences of both species were found to be 93% homologous. The major disparities comprise different frequencies of reiteration of short tracts of six to sixteen basepairs. Most of these reiterations are found within the 1100 basepairs long NTS between the 3'-ends of 26S and 5S rRNA (NTS1). The NTS between the starts of 5S rRNA and 37S pre-rRNA (NTS2) comprises about 1250 basepairs. The first 800 basepairs of NTS NTS2 (adjacent to the 5S rRNA gene) are virtually identical in both strains whereas a variable region is present at about 250 basepairs upstream of the RNA polymerase A transcription start. In contrast to the situation in Drosophila and Xenopus no reiterations of the putative RNA polymerase A promoter are present within the yeast NTS. The strands of the yeast NTS reveal a remarkable bias of G and C-residues. Yeast rDNA was previously shown to contain a sequence capable of autonomous replication (ARS) (Szostak, J.W. and Wu, R (1979), Plasmid 2, 536-554). This ARS, which may correspond to a chromosomal origin of replication, was located on a fragment of 570 basepairs within NTS2.