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. 1974 Jun;71(6):2534–2538. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.6.2534

Release of Polarity in Escherichia coli by Gene N of Phage λ: Termination and Antitermination of Transcription

Sankar Adhya 1, Max Gottesman 1,*, Benoit De Crombrugghe 1
PMCID: PMC388494  PMID: 4601822

Abstract

The induction of λ prophage provokes the constitutive expression of the adjacent gal operon in E. coli. This “escape synthesis” can result from transcription that initiates at a phage promoter and extends into the gal operon. The effect requires the product of the λ gene N. N-mediated transcription not only fails to terminate at the prophage-bacterial junction and at the ends of bacterial operons, but ignores termination signals caused by polar insertions or ochre mutations within gal. Suppression of polarity by N-function is a cis-effect; only transcription initiated at the phage promoter is influenced. We propose that the transcription complex is influenced by N-product to become termination-resistant at a site in the phage genome (juggernaut model). This site appears to be at or near the phage promoter.

Keywords: escape synthesis, juggernaut model, gal operon

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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