Synthesis of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is essential for fast cell growth and rRNA transcription is typically characterized by dense traffic of RNA polymerases along the rRNA genes. However, dense traffic is susceptible to traffic jams which may arise inevitably due to stochastic pausing of the polymerases. Based on recent theoretical and experimental results, we suggest that the "traffic viewpoint" ...

More than 70 different proteins form two subunits of eukaryotic ribosomes and are major components of the total cellular protein. It has been reported that in various living organisms the biosynthesis of the different ribosomal proteins is regulated coordinately (Mager, 1988). Although some information concerning the primary structure of plant ribosoma1 proteins is available by isolating cDNA c...

Nearly 800 nucleotides from the 5' terminus of the 28S ribosomal gene of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis were sequenced, and a 14-base DNA probe specific for this species was identified. Hybridization results showed that the probe identified P. brasiliensis ribosomal DNA in a panel of ribosomal DNAs representing a total of 48 species of fungi.

Understanding ribosomal protein gene regulation provides a good avenue for understanding gene regulatory networks. Even after 5 decades of research on ribosomal protein gene regulation, little is known about how higher eukaryotic ribosomal protein genes are coordinately regulated at the transcriptional level. However, a few recent papers shed some light on this complicated problem.