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Effect of DNA superhelicity on transcription termination

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Summary

Restriction fragments containing either leut (a rho-independent transcription termination site) and/or leut' (a rho-dependent transcription termination site) were cloned into plasmid pOL4. Treatment of plasmid-containing Escherichia coli strains with coumermycin resulted in loss of in vivo plasmid superhelicity 10 min after antibiotic addition. Galactokinase levels specified by these plasmid-containing strains were the same regardless of whether functional DNA gyrase was present. These results suggest that transcription termination is unaffected by the superhelical state of DNA.

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Communicated by N.D.F. Grindley

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Rosenthal, E.R., Calvo, J.M. Effect of DNA superhelicity on transcription termination. Mol Gen Genet 207, 430–434 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00331611

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