Visualization of ribosomal ribonucleic acid synthesis in a ribonuclease III-Deficient strain of Escherichia coli

Transmission electron microscopy was used to examine active ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) genes in two strains of Escherichia coli: N2077, deficient in the enzyme responsible for proper cleavage of the 16S sequence from the elongating nascent rRNA transcript; and N2076, functional in ribonuclease (RNase) III activity, yet otherwise isogenic to N2077. In the strain with wild-type RNase III, double gradients corresponding to a pattern of 16S-cleavage-23S transcription were observed. However, the RNase III-deficient strain exhibited a single ribosomal gradient of approximately the same length as the combined 16S-23S gradients of the wild-type strain. When the rRNA genes were somewhat loosely packed with RNA polymerases, a few of the nascent chains in the ribosomal matrixes of the RNase III-deficient strain were cleaved, but most appeared to be unprocessed. The completed, uncleaved transcripts originating from these gradients are believed to be 30S rRNA molecules recently characterized by biochemical probes.