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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1984 Aug;81(16):5101–5105. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.16.5101

Defining a bacteriophage T4 late promoter: bacteriophage T4 gene 55 protein suffices for directing late promoter recognition.

G A Kassavetis, E P Geiduschek
PMCID: PMC391645  PMID: 6382259

Abstract

The RNA polymerase from bacteriophage T4-infected Escherichia coli, which specifically initiates transcription at phage T4 late promoters, is extensively modified by ADP-ribosylation of core subunits and by binding several virus-encoded subunits. We show here that one of these subunits, the phage T4 gene 55 protein, designated gp55, alone endows unmodified RNA polymerase core enzyme from uninfected E. coli with the ability to selectively initiate transcription at the phage T4 late promoters, without participation by E. coli RNA polymerase o- subunit.

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Selected References

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