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A rho-independent termination caused by the cloned inverted nut L site of phage lambda

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Summary

For studying the termination activity of inverted nutL site of bacteriophage lambda, we have constructed a plasmid carrying the nutL fragment oriented reversely with respect to cloned lambda promoter pR-directed transcription. The results of in vitro transcription on this plasmid template and S1 mapping assay reveal that the termination of pR-promoted transcription at inverted nutL site is a rho-independent event. This nutL terminator shares several features with the other known sites of transcription termination, including (i) a uridine-rich 3′ terminal RNA sequences, — UUAAUUUUU-OH, (ii) a GC-rich region in the DNA immediately preceding the site of termination, (iii) a region of dyad symmetry in the DNA which, in transcript, is capable of forming a stable hairpin containing four GC base pairs and one AU base pair in its stem.

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Communicated by E. Bautz

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Luk, K.C. A rho-independent termination caused by the cloned inverted nut L site of phage lambda. Molec Gen Genet 187, 320–325 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00331137

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00331137

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