Further evidence that the rna2 mutation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae affects mRNA processing

The relative rate at which ribosomal protein 51 (rp51) mRNA is synthesized was measured by pulse-labeling cells in vivo with [3H]adenine. Two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were compared: A364A (wild type) and ts368 (rna2), a temperature-sensitive strain in which the level of rp51 mRNA decreases and an intron-containing rp51 precursor RNA increases. When cells were shifted up to the nonpermissive temperature (36 degrees C), the rate of rp51 RNA synthesis was only marginally affected (75% of wild type) by the presence of the rna2 mutation. The precursor RNA was the predominant transcription product at 36 degrees C. This precursor could be converted into RNA equal in size to mature mRNA by further incubation at either 36 or 23 degrees C in the presence of unlabeled adenine. The relative half-life of the rp51 transcripts at 36 degrees C also decreased approximately twofold in ts368 as compared with A364A. All of these data imply that the precursor (intron-containing) RNA is processed inefficiently to mature mRNA and that the rp51 precursor RNA is continuously synthesized and degraded in the mutant strain at 36 degrees C.