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Switch from θ to σ replication of bacteriophage λ DNA: factors involved in the process and a model for its regulation

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Abstract

Bacteriophage λ genome is one of the classical model replicons in studies on the regulation of DNA replication. Moreover, since genes coding for Shiga toxins are located in genomes of lambdoid phages, understanding of mechanisms controlling λ DNA replication may be of bio-medical importance. During lytic development of bacteriophage λ, its genome is replicated according to the θ (circle-to-circle) mode early after infection, and then it is switched to the σ (rolling circle) mode. Two mechanisms of regulation of this switch were proposed recently and both suggested a crucial role for directionality of λ DNA replication. Whereas one hypothesis assumed transient impairment of ClpP/ClpX-mediated proteolysis of the λO initiator protein, another suggested a crucial role for transcriptional activation of the oriλ region and factors involved in the control of the p R promoter activity. Here we demonstrate that mutations in clpP and clpX genes had little influence on both directionality of λ DNA replication and appearance of σ replication intermediates. On the other hand, regulators affecting activity of the p R promoter (responsible for initiation of transcription, which activates oriλ) directly or indirectly influenced directionality of λ DNA replication to various extents. Therefore, we conclude that regulation of the efficiency of transcriptional activation of oriλ, rather than transient impairment of the λO proteolysis, is responsible for the control of the switch from θ to σ replication, and propose a model for this control.

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Acknowledgments

Assistance of Elżbieta Borysiewicz during some experiments is greatly acknowledged. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (project grant no. N301 122 31/3747).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, University of Gdańsk, Kładki 24, 80-822, Gdańsk, Poland

    Magdalena Narajczyk, Sylwia Barańska & Grzegorz Węgrzyn

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Biology (affiliated with the University of Gdańsk), Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kładki 24, 80-822, Gdańsk, Poland

    Alicja Węgrzyn

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  1. Magdalena Narajczyk
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  2. Sylwia Barańska
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  3. Alicja Węgrzyn
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  4. Grzegorz Węgrzyn
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Correspondence to Grzegorz Węgrzyn.

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Communicated by G. Klug.

Magdalena Narajczyk and Sylwia Barańska contributed equally to this work.

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Narajczyk, M., Barańska, S., Węgrzyn, A. et al. Switch from θ to σ replication of bacteriophage λ DNA: factors involved in the process and a model for its regulation. Mol Genet Genomics 278, 65–74 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-007-0228-y

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