Factors Influencing the Activity of Mammalia RNA Polymerase

Abstract

The significance of factors influencing the activity of RNA polymerase and their possible role as a positive control element in gene regulation is now widely being discussed. Experiments in bacterial and bacteriophage systems have indicated that sets of genes may be operated by a polymerase specified for this set by a sigma factor (Burgess et al., 1969; Bautz et al., 1969; Losik and Sonenshein, 1969; Travers, 1969; Summers and Siegel, 1969). It is tempting to assume that such a control mechanism also plays an important role in cell differentiation, a regulatory process which certainly involves the activation of a set of genes specifying the differentiated state of a cell. However, no experimental data as yet lend support to this concept. A first approach to these questions would be the demonstration of factors in a eucaryote cell which influence the activity of RNA polymerase isolated from these cells. The rationale of...