Transcription of Leishmania major Friedlin Chromosome 1 Initiates in Both Directions within a Single Region

Abstract Almost nothing is known about the sequences involved in transcription initiation of protein-coding genes in the parasite Leishmania . We describe here the transcriptional analysis of chromosome 1 (chr1) from Leishmania major Friedlin (LmjF) which encodes the first 29 genes on one DNA strand, and the remaining 50 on the opposite strand. Strand-specific nuclear run-on assays showed that a low level of nonspecific transcription probably takes place over the entire chromosome, but an ∼10-fold higher level of coding strand-specific RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-mediated transcription initiates within the strand-switch region. 5′ RACE studies localized the initiation sites to a