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Transcription in the region of the replication origin, oriC, of Escherichia coli: Termination of asnC transcripts

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Summary

Transcription from the asnC promoter was found to proceed through the replication origin, oriC, into the gidA gene of Escherichia coli. Between 10% and 20% of asnC transcripts reached oriC in vivo. Termination sites in the intergenic region between asnC and mioC and within mioC were determined in vivo and in vitro using S1 mapping. Only about 10% of the transcripts terminated at the asnC terminator in vivo. DnaA protein dependent termination was observed close to the binding site, dnaA box, for DnaA protein. In the in vitro replication system asnC transcripts did not reach oriC, suggesting that asnC transcripts are not involved in the initiation of replication, contrary to mioC transcripts. We suggest that oriC and mioC might have been transposed during evolution into an asnC regulon.

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Author notes

  1. Claudia Kücherer

    Present address: Centra de Recherche de Biochimie et de Génétique Cellulaire du CNRS, F-31077, Toulouse Cedex, France

  2. Ralf Kölling

    Present address: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Ihnestrasse 73, D-1000, Berlin 33, Federal Republic of Germany

    Annette Gielow, Claudia Kücherer, Ralf Kölling & Walter Messer

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  1. Annette Gielow
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  2. Claudia Kücherer
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  3. Ralf Kölling
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  4. Walter Messer
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Communicated by R. Devoret

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Gielow, A., Kücherer, C., Kölling, R. et al. Transcription in the region of the replication origin, oriC, of Escherichia coli: Termination of asnC transcripts. Mol Gen Genet 214, 474–481 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330483

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