Biosynthesis of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase subunits upon release of rifampicin inhibition

Summary

Upon release of rifampicin inhibition of Escherichia coli cells, the initiation of transcription will resume. The sequential resumption of the synthesis of proteins after release of rifampicin inhibition reflects the genetic order and size of the corresponding transcriptional units. We have used this approach to analyze whether the genes for α and σ are on the same transcriptional unit as the gens for β and β′, employing a method, which allowed us to measure the amounts of RNA polymerase subunits, α, β, β′ and σ in crude extracts. We have found that the α and σ subunits are synthesized concurrently with the β subunit in the rifampicin restart experiment, which suggests that the genes for α and σ belongs to different transcriptional units.