Structure of the DNA distal to the gene for ribosomal protein S20 in Escherichia coli K12: presence of a strong terminator and an IS1 element.

The sequence of nucleotides extending over 2.3 kb distal to the gene for ribosomal protein S20 of E. coli has been determined. Included in the sequence is an efficient rho-independent terminator 50 b.p. distal to the coding sequence for S20, a complete copy of IS1 which lacks, however, flanking direct repeats, and finally, an open reading frame capable of encoding a 28 kDa polypeptide of unknown function. Several lines of evidence suggest that the IS1 sequence described here must represent one of the copies resident in the bacterial chromosome rather than a newly transposed copy. Northern blotting experiments show that the gene for S20 is functionally monocistronic under all conditions tested in several genetic backgrounds. Thus it seems unlikely that the distal copy of IS1 plays any role in the termination or stability of mRNA transcribed from the gene for S20.