Transcriptional arrest within the first exon is a fast control mechanism in c-myc gene expression.

DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide), a potent inducer of granulocytic differentiation in HL60 cells, causes a rapid decrease of cytoplasmic steady state c-myc RNA. This decrease is regulated mainly at the level of transcript elongation. Elongation is blocked within the untranslated c-myc leader. Twelve hours after transcriptional shut off of c-myc, DNAase I hypersensitive site II was still detectable, indicating that closing of this site upstream of the gene does not correlate with reduction in the steady state level of c-myc RNA.