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Uteroglobin, a progesterone-binding protein, is expressed in several organs, principally endometrium and lung, of the rabbit and other rodents. The phasic activation of the uteroglobin gene in the endometrium during early pregnancy is regulated by progesterone, which contrasts with the constitutive, nonregulated expression of this gene in the lung. Thus, uteroglobin provides a useful model for the study of differential gene regulation by hormones as well as for the study of steroid-protein interactions.

A method for isolation of large, translationally active RNA species is presented. The procedure involves homogenization of cells or tissues in 5 M guanidine monothiocyanate followed by direct precipitation of RNA from the guanidinium by 4 M LiCl. Modifications are described for use with tissue culture cells, yeast, tissues, or isolated nuclei. The advantages of the procedure include speed, simplicity, avoidance of an ultracentrifugation, and its applicability to large numbers of small samples. The procedure yields large mRNA precursors up to 10 kb and mRNA species which translate very well. However, small (less than 300 nucleotides) RNA species are recovered with a poor yield.

The small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) in African Green Monkey kidney cells (CV-1 cells) were examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Methodology was developed to improve their extraction from enriched fractions. Cellular fractionation studies and subsequent analysis of these RNAs indicate that they are tightly associated with chromatin. Treatment of cells with alpha-amanitin totally suppressed transcription of U1, U2, U4, U5, and partially suppressed transcription of U6, suggesting that these snRNAs are transcribed by RNA polymerase II. Upon infection of the cells by simian virus 40 (SV40), overall transcription of these and other cellular RNAs was stimulated. Gel filtration and formaldehyde crosslinking studies indicated that the ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) containing snRNAs are associated with the viral minichromosome. Nucleotide sequence comparisons show extensive sequence complementarity between the 5' end of U2 RNA, the replication origin of SV40, and a prokaryotic RNA (RNA I) that is involved in control of plasmid replication. The clustered homologies between these RNAs and the association of snRNAs with the SV40 chromosome suggest that snRNAs may be evolutionarily related to small RNAs from plasmids and are consistent with an hypothesis that U2 RNA may be involved in DNA replication.