Transcriptional units for ribosomal proteins in yeast

The effects of ultraviolet irradiation on the rates of synthesis of individual ribosomal proteins in yeast were examined and compared with the ultraviolet sensitivities of the synthesis of other yeast proteins. It was found that the synthesis of yeast ribosomal proteins is much more sensitive to ultraviolet irradiation than that of other yeast cellular proteins. Taking into account the half-life of yeast mRNA, the results obtained indicate that the genes coding for ribosomal proteins form part of long transcriptional units, which are much longer than the DNA stretch needed to code for a ribosomal protein of average molecular weight. Saturation hybridization of total poly(A)-containing mRNA with yeast nuclear DNA revealed that as much as 30% of DNA is complementary to yeast mRNA. Thus, the primary transcript of a protein gene on the average is about 1.7 times the length of the actual messenger. On the basis of the various experimental data we suggest a clustering of the yeast ribosomal protein genes in a number of common transcriptional units.