Primary transcripts made by RNA polymerase II (Pol
II), but not Pol I or Pol III, are modified by addition
of a 7-methylguanosine (m7G) residue to the
triphosphate 5′ end shortly after it emerges from
the polymerase. The m7G “caps” of
small nuclear and small nucleolar RNAs, but not messenger
RNAs, are subsequently hypermethylated to a 2,2,7-trimethylguanosine
(TMG) residue. U6 RNA, the only small nuclear RNA synthesized
by Pol III in most eukaryotes, does not receive a methylguanosine
cap. However, human U6 RNA is O-methylated on
the 5′-terminal (γ) phosphate by an enzyme that
recognizes the 5′ stem-loop of U6. Here we show that
variant yeast U6 RNAs truncated or substituted within the
5′ stem-loop are TMG capped in vivo. Accumulation
of the most efficiently TMG-capped U6 RNA variant is strongly
inhibited by a conditional mutation in the largest subunit
of Pol III, confirming that it is indeed synthesized by
Pol III. Thus, methylguanosine capping and cap hypermethylation
are not exclusive to Pol II transcripts in yeast. We propose
that TMG capping of variant U6 RNAs occurs posttranscriptionally
due to exposure of the 5′ triphosphate by disruption
of protein binding and/or γ-methyl phosphate capping.
5′ truncation and TMG capping of U6 RNA does not
appear to affect its normal function in splicing, suggesting
that assembly and action of the spliceosome is not very
sensitive to the 5′ end structure of U6 RNA.