Summary
A single species of RNA polymerase is responsible for the transcription of genetic material in Escherichia coli; and, each component of this essential enzyme is encoded by a single gene. Nevertheless, we report the characterisation of a viable deletion mutant lacking about 165 bp in the region coding for residues 965 to 1143 of the β subunit of this enzyme. The foreshortened β polypeptide appears to function as normal, suggesting that this region is, in fact, non-essential with regard to the usual functions of E. coli RNA polymerase.
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Communicated by K. Isono
Paper V is Nene and Glass (1983)
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Nene, V., Glass, R.E. Genetics studies on the β subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. Mol Gen Genet 196, 64–67 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334093
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00334093