Evidence of read-through at the termination signal for transcription of the trp operon

Evidence that ribosomal protein S10 itself is a cellular component necessary for transcription antitermination by phage lambda N protein

Bacteriophage lambda N gene product acts to modify host RNA polymerase allowing the formation of a termination-resistant transcription apparatus. Previous studies have demonstrated that the nusE71 mutation that has altered the ribosomal protein S10 prevents N action in vivo. Using a coupled transcription-translation system, we demonstrate here that purified S10 protein as well as the 30S ribosomal subunit is sufficient to restore N activity in the nusE mutant extract, allowing antitermination of Rho-dependent and Rho-independent terminators. This provides direct biochemical evidence that the S10 protein itself is one of the cellular components necessary for the formation of an antitermination apparatus.

PL-promoted transcription of the promoter-proximal N-trp region is insensitive to chloramphenicol in the absence of N function

When the trp operon is translocated into the early region of lambda phage, transcription originated at the PL promotor is known to be modified by function of the N gene product so that transcription of the operon continues when translation is blocked by nonsense mutations or by ribosomal antibiotics. When N function is deficient in a phage that joins the trp operon to a point distal to the N gene, deleting the tL site, nonsense mutations (Franklin, 1974) or chloramphenicol (Nakamura et al., accompanying paper) again block transcription of the bacterial operon. However, here we report that transcription over about the first 800 nucleotide pairs starting from the PL promotor of the N-trp operon is still insensitive to chloramphenicol even in the absence of N function. The region covers the full N gene and the initial bit of the trp operon.

Restoration of polarity by N-deficiency in lambda phage containing a translocated trp operon segment

When translation of trp mRNA is terminated by a nonsense codon or by antibiotics like chloramphenicol, the amount of the mRNA distal to the blocked ribosomes is found at much lower levels ("polarity"). Polarity is alleviated when the trp mRNA is formed as part of a long transcript from the phage lambda promoter PL (Segawa and Imamoto, 1974; Franklin, 1974); but the relief of polarity is itself largely dependent on the lambda protein N. In a phage that joins the trp operon segment (trpD, C, B A) to a point distal to the N gene, lacking the tL site, synthesis of trp mRNA starting at the PL promoter continues even when translation is generally inhibited by chloramphenicol, but in the absence of functional N gene product synthesis of the mRNA can be blocked by the antibiotic. Unexpectedly, in the absence of N function, even when translation is occurring, weak termination of transcription occurs at some sites in the translocated trp operon.

Effect of stringent and relaxed control on transcription of the tryptophan operon from the ptrp promoter and the PL promoter in trp phage

Tryptophan (trp) mRNA synthesis from the authentic trp promoter (Ptrp) is apparently arrested upon translation blockage, while trp mRNA synthesis as a result of read-through from the Pl promoter of the N gene in trp phage is not so affected. When translation is blocked at a nonpermissive temperature in the temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli rel carrying altered ribosomal elongation factors G (strain CP78G) and Ts (strain HAK88), CP78G and HAK88 show relaxed and stringent phenotypes respectively in control of RNA synthesis. Under conditions causing translation blockage in both mutants, Pl-promoted synthesis of trp mRNA is not depressed while Ptrp-promoted synthesis of trp mRNA is blocked. The insensitivity of Pl-promoted transcription of the translocated trp operon to stringent control is also confirmed by using a strain 10b6s rel carrying a temperature-sensitive valyl-tRNA synthetase. In contrast to the above observation, transcription of the trp operon from either the Pl and Ptrp promoters in a 10b6r rel infected with trp is inhibited greatly at the nonpermissive temperature. This effect occurs even if the level of trp transcription observed at 30 degrees is already low, thus suggesting that translational machinery is intrinsically abnormal in the rel strain.