Characteristic distribution of two forms of chromatin-bound RNA polymerase II in rat liver nuclei.

We have shown that, in rat liver nuclei, the chromatin-bound RNA polymerase II is released as two different forms on digestion with micrococcal nuclease or DNase I (peak 1 and peak 2). To elucidate the origin of the two forms of the enzyme, we examined their distribution in fractionated chromatins obtained by mild micrococcal nuclease digestion of the nuclei. About half of the total peak 2 activity was recovered in a nuclease-sensitive chromatin fraction which contained DNA enriched in the sequences appearing in the polysomal polyadenylated mRNA. On the other hand, four-fifths of the total peak 1 activity was recovered in a nuclease-resistant chromatin fraction which contained DNA comprising only two thirds of the transcribed sequences. Furthermore, during the nuclease digestion, peak 2 activity was rapidly released from the chromatin, whereas peak 1 activity was gradually released. These results indicate that the two forms of RNA polymerase II are distributed differently in the cell nuclei.