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On the transcription of repressed genes in the absence of DNA-synthesis

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Summary

In four thymine requiring strains ofE. coli the synthesis of induced and repressed β-galactosidase and of repressed alkaline phosphatase have been investigated under thymine-less conditions in different growth media. In agreement with previous studies induced synthesis of β-galactosidase occurred in the absence of DNA-synthesis. When the genes were in the repressed state their expression under conditions of thymine deprivation were not uniform for the strains and conditions used: Enzyme synthesis was either proportional to or less than total protein synthesis. The data do not favour the hypothesis that the expression of repressed genes is dependent on DNA-replication.

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Overath, P., Stange, H. On the transcription of repressed genes in the absence of DNA-synthesis. Zeitschrift für Vererbungslehre 98, 71–81 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00898298

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