Synthesis of U1 RNA in isolated nuclei from sea urchin embryos: U1 RNA is initiated at the first nucleotide of the RNA.

Nuclei from sea urchin blastula embryos synthesize a variety of small RNAs, one of which has identical mobility with sea urchin U1 RNA. This RNA is synthesized by RNA polymerase II and, in a hybridization-selection experiment, was selected by the cloned sea urchin U1 gene. The U1 RNA was initiated with ATP, but not GTP, in isolated nuclei with beta-S- and gamma-S-ribonucleotide triphosphates as substrates. The U1 RNA containing thiophosphate at the 5' end was not capped but accumulated as an uncapped transcript from which the thiophosphate could be removed with calf intestinal phosphatase.