Summary
The trp operon translocated into the early region of phage λ can be transcribed under the control of two promoters, the authentic trp promoter (P trp trp mRNA) and the P L promoter of the N gene (P L trp mRNA) (Imamoto and Tani, 1972; Ihara and Imamoto, 1976a). P L trp mRNA is stabilized with time after infection: at early times after infection chemical degradation of P L trp mRNA is two-fold slower than for P trp trp mRNA, while at later times the stabilization of P L trp mRNA is markedly reduced when the activity of the tof gene product is low due to a missense mutation of the tof gene. In contrast there is no significant reduction in stabilization when N function is lost by an amber mutation. On the basis of these and other experiments with λtrp susN7 tof12 phage, it is inferred that stabilization of the P L trp mRNA is brought about by a modification of the “decay trigger”, at least in part by the protein product of the tof gene.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adhya, S., Gottesman, M., Crombrugghe, B. de, Court, D.: Transcription termination regulates gene expression. In: RNA polymerase (Chamberlin, M. and Losick, R., eds.), pp. 719–730. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1976
Cohen, G., Jacob, F.: Sur la représsion de la synthèse des enzymes intervenant dans la formation du tryptophan chez Escherichia coli. C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 248, 3490–3492 (1959)
Craig, E., Cremer, K., Schlessinger, D.: Metabolism of T4 messenger RNA and ribosomal RNA in T4-infected Escherichia coli B. J. molec. Biol. 71, 701–715 (1972)
Davidson, N., Szybalski, W.: Physical and chemical characteristics of lambda DNA. In: The bacteriophage lambda (Hershey, A.D., ed.), pp. 45–82. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 1971
Fiandt, M., Szybalski, W., Imamoto, F.: Physical mapping of trp endpoint in the N-t L segments of phage λtrpE-A. Virology 61, 312–314 (1974)
Freedmann, D.I., Jolly, C.T., Mural, R.J.: Interference with the expression of the N gene function of phage λ in a mutant of Escherichia coli. Virology 51, 216–226 (1973)
Gupta, R.S., Schlessinger, D.: Differential modes of chemical decay for early and late lambda messenger RNA. J. molec. Biol. 92, 311–318 (1975)
Hattman, S., Hofschneider, P.H.: Interference of bacteriophage T4 in the reproduction of RNA phage M12. J. molec. Biol. 29, 173–190 (1967)
Hayashi, Y., Hayashi, M.: Fractionation of φX174 specific messenger RNA. Cold Spr. Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 35, 171–177 (1970)
Hirashima, A., Childs, G., Inouye, M.: Differential inhibitory effects of antibiotics on the biosynthesis of envelope proteins of Escherichia coli. J. molec. Biol. 79, 373–389 (1973)
Ihara, S., Imamoto, F.: Dual transcription of tryptophan operon translocated into the early region of λ. Biochim. biophys. Acta (Amst.) 432, 199–211 (1976a)
Ihara, S., Imamoto, F.: Differential sensitivity to antibiotics of trp mRNA synthesis originating at the trp promoter and the λ promoter. Biochim. biophys. Acta (Amst.) 432, 212–222 (1976b)
Imamoto, F.: Intragenic initiation of transcription of the tryptophan operon in Escherichia coli following dinitrophenol treatment without tryptophan. J. molec. Biol. 43, 51–69 (1969)
Imamoto, F., Schlessinger, D.: Bearing of some recent results on the mechanism of polarity and messenger RNA stability. Molec. gen. Genet. 135, 29–38 (1974)
Imamoto, F., Tani, S.: Diversity of regulation of genetic transcription. Nature (Lond.) New Biol. 240, 172–175 (1972)
Imamoto, F., Yanofsky, C.: Transcription of the tryptophan operon in polarity mutants of Escherichia coli. II. Evidence for normal production of trp mRNA molecules and for premature termination of transcription. J. molec. Biol. 28, 1–23 (1967)
Janish, R., Jacob, E., Hofschneider, P.H.: Replication of the small coliphage M13: Evidence for long-living M13 specific messenger RNA. Nature (Lond.) 227, 59–60 (1970)
Kaiser, A.D., Hogness, D.S.: The transformation of Escherichia coli with deoxyribonucleic acid isolated from bacteriophage λdg. J. molec. Biol. 2, 392–415 (1960)
Lee, N., Inouye, M.: Outer membrane protein of Escherichia coli: Biosynthesis and assembly. FEBS Letters 39, 167–170 (1974)
Lennox, E.S.: Transduction of linked genetic character of the host by bacteriophage Pl. Virology 1, 190–206 (1955)
Levy, S.B.: Very stable prokaryotic messenger RNA in chromosomeless Escherichia coli minicells. Proc. nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 72, 2900–2904 (1975)
Marrs, B.L., Yanofsky, C.: Host and bacteriophage specific messenger RNA degradation in T7-infected Escherichia coli. Nature (Lond.) New Biol. 234, 168–170 (1971)
Nishimune, Y.: Prophage excision: Specific gene amplification of excision-impaired lysogen after induction. Virology 53, 236–246 (1973)
Pero, J.: Location of the phage λ gene responsible for turning off λ exonuclease synthesis. Virology 40, 65–71 (1970)
Sato, K., Nishimune, Y., Sato, M., Numich, R., Matsushiro, A., Inokuchi, H., Ozeki, H.: Suppressor-sensitive mutants of coliphage φ80. Virology 34, 637–649 (1968)
Segawa, T., Imamoto, F.: Relief of polarity by nonsense condons in trp mRNA synthesized from the λ promoter. J. molec. Biol. 87, 741–754 (1974)
Schlessinger, D.: Repartoire of genetic control of gene expression in prokaryotes. In: Stadler Symposia, Vol. 3, pp. 25–36. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri 1971
Silengo, L., Nikolaev, N., Schlessinger, D., Imamoto, F.: Stabilization of mRNA with polar effects in an Escherichia coli mutant. Molec. gen. Genet. 134, 7–19 (1974)
Summers, W.C.: The process of infection with coliphage T7. IV. Stability of RNA in bacteriophage-infected cells. J. molec. Biol. 51, 671–678 (1970)
Szybalski, W.: Genetic and molecular map of coliphage lambda. In: Handbook of Biochemistry, pp. I.35-I.38. Cleveland, Ohio: Chemical Rubber Co. 1970
Takeda, Y., Kuwano, M.: Synthesis and degradation of early mRNA in λ phage. Biochim. biophys. Acta (Amst.) 407, 83–90 (1975)
Takeda, Y., Ogata, K., Matsubara, K.: Genetic analysis of the tof gene in the bacteriophage λ genome. Virology 65, 385–391 (1975)
Vogel, H.J., Bonner, D.H.: Acetylornithinase of Escherichia coli: partial purification and some properties. J. biol. Chem. 218, 97–106 (1956)
Yamamoto, T., Imamoto, F.: Differential stability of trp messenger RNA synthesized originating at the trp promoter and P L promoter of the lambda trp phage. J. molec. Biol. 92, 289–305 (1975)
Yanofsky, C., Ito, J.: Nonsense codons and polarity in the tryptophan operon. J. molec. Biol. 21, 313–334 (1966)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by T. Yura
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yamamoto, T., Imamoto, F. Function of the tof gene product in modifying chemical stability of trp messenger RNA synthesized from the P L promoter of λtrp phage. Molec. gen. Genet. 155, 131–138 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393151
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393151