Does the complimentary base pairing of rRNA with itself play a role in its transcription?
Summary

The process of the termination of transcription is still not well understood. It differs between eukaryotes and prokaryotes and between mRNA and rRNA. Although it involves stem-loop structures, such structures may be necessary, but are not sufficient for termination. The idea that the termination signal might be part of the mature functional transcript — especially for rRNA comes up against a number of problems, and turns out to be incorrect. Such problems include the extensive nature of the stem loops (which to use?) and the fact that the smaller stem loops emanating from the core conserved hydrogen-bonded skeleton, are not necessarily themselves conserved (reviewed by Brimacombe). In fact the large and small rRNAs are in a single transcription unit with other genes at the end of which are specific termination signals outside the region encoding the mature rRNA. 

Prokaryotic rRNA transcription

This has been reviewed by Condon, Squires and Squires (1995). The structure of the well-studied rrnB operon of E.coli is shown below, with the promoters indicated as ‘P1’and P2’ and the terminator sequences as ‘T1’ and ‘T2’. (Adapted from Pfeiffer and Hartmann.)



This transcription unit includes the 5S rRNA as well as a tRNA.

Eukaryotic rRNA transcription

This has been reviewed by Goodfellow and Zoomerdijk(2012), from which the diagram below, of the mammalian rDNA repeat, is taken. The terminator elements are ‘T1–10’.



In eukaryotes the 5S rRNA is not in the same transcription unit as the large and small rRNAs (and the 5.8S rRNA). Indeed it is transcribed by DNA-dependent RNA polymerase III, rather than the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase I, which transcribes the rDNA repeat shown.