Induction of a phi C31 prophage inhibits rRNA transcription in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

A lysogen of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) containing a thermoinducible mutant of the temperate phage phi C31 (phi C31 cts1) was used to obtain synchronous phage development. Filter hybridization experiments indicated a marked reduction in rRNA synthesis after prophage induction. S1 nuclease mapping showed that transcription from each of the four promoters of one rRNA gene set (rrnD) was reduced to approximately the same extent, and that inhibition required protein synthesis. Crude preparations of RNA polymerase from induced lysogens had enhanced transcribing activity for phi C31 DNA which was lost upon further purification. The purified preparations were unimpaired in their ability to transcribe from the rrnD promoters in vitro and apparently unchanged in polypeptide composition. The factor(s) responsible for stimulating phage transcription, and possibly for inhibiting rRNA synthesis, may have been separated from the enzyme during purification.