[Transcription of DNA by RNA polymerases of E. coli and calf thymus]

The paper deals with the comparative investigation of initiation and in vitro RNA synthesis on DNA template by E. coli RNA polymerase and B-form of calf thymus RNA polymerase. It was shown in hybridization experiments that in the range of Cot values between 10(2) and 10(4) RNA synthesized by calf thymus RNA polymerase was hybridized with homologous DNA more effectively than RNA synthesized by E. coli RNA polymerase. No differences were observed in the case of low Cot values. RNA chains synthesized by calf thymus RNA polymerase contained in average about 300-600 nucleotides per chain as determined in the kinetic experiments with ATP-gamma-32P and GTP-gamma-32P. These values are in average 5-10 times lower than in the case of bacterial enzyme. The data presented show that calf thymus and E. coli RNA polymerases initiate the RNA synthesis at apparently different sites of calf thymus DNA. The results obtained make the possibility of specific transcription of eucaryotic DNA by bacterial RNA polymerase to be doubtful.