LambdacI mutants: intragenic complementation and complementation with a cI promoter mutant.

Complementation for the maintenance of lysogeny was studied by superinfecting lambdacIts lysogens at 34 degrees C. and then heating to 43 degrees C. With certain exceptions, ts mutants with defects in the left half of the repressor complemented ts mutants with defects in the right half to produce a less heat-labile repressor (Fig. 3). All cI amber mutants failed to complement cIts mutants. The cI mutant c50 complements all ts mutants. Mutations in Pre (cy) or genes cII and cIII do not significantly affect the expression of cI by a superinfecting lambda genome in an immune lysogen. Mutants with very heat-labile repressors failed to complement lambdacy42 for the establishment of lysogeny at elevated temperatures, while those with less heat-sensitive repressors apparently did complement cy. According to a suggested model, the left side of the cI product is concerned primarily with subunit aggregation, while operator binding is the function of the right side of the oligomer.