Transcription in vivo of an Alu family member upstream from the human epsilon-globin gene.

The more distal Alu repeat flanking the epsilon-globin gene is transcribed in K562 cells to generate transcripts 350-400 nucleotides in length. Initiation occurs at the start of the repeat, upstream of a putative PolIII control signal. These transcripts originate from the strand which does not code epsilon-globin and are oriented in the opposite direction from the gene. They are non-polyadenylated, nucleus-confined and are only detectable in association with expression of the epsilon-globin gene.