Summary
Several insertions have been characterized by heteroduplex mapping in the argECBH bipolar operon. They include 1. an IS1 element in argB (mutation argB5) in orientation II with respect to argH. The insertion is strongly polar; the residual argH expression is due mainly to transcription events initiated at the control region, between argE and argC. In terms of transcription polarity, the insertion appears as proximal to the secondary promotor (P2) present in argB.
2. An IS5 element in argB (mutation argB2), distal to P2, exerting an extremely strong polar effect on argH. IS5 is shown to be capable of inaccurate excision at a frequency of about 10-8 the number of cells plated; no rigorously correct excision could be observed on a total of more than 1012 cells.
3. Two IS2 elements inserted in opposite orientations in the control region of a strain bearing a deletion of the argE promotor.
The present results together with evidence presented in the accompanying paper by Boyen et al. (1978) show that IS2 can exert a polar effect when it is inserted downstream from an active promotor in orientation I or II; IS2 however promotes low levels of transcription into an adjacent gene lacking a functional promotor. The significance of these results is discussed in the accompanying paper by Boyen et al. (1978).
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Charlier, D., Crabeel, M., Palchaudhuri, S. et al. Heteroduplex analysis of regulatory mutations and of insertions (IS1, IS2, IS5) in the bipolar argECBH operon of Escherichia coli . Molec. Gen. Genet. 161, 175–184 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00274186
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00274186