The lit gene product which blocks bacteriophage T4 late gene expression is a membrane protein encoded by a cryptic DNA element, e14.

Escherichia coli lit(Con) mutations cause a severe inhibition of gene expression late in infection by bacteriophage T4 owing to the overproduction of one, and possibly two, proteins (C. Kao, E. Gumbs, and L. Snyder, J. Bacteriol. 169:1232-1238, 1987). One or both of these proteins interact, either directly or indirectly, with a short sequence about one-quarter of the way into the major capsid protein gene of T4, and the inhibition occurs when this late gene of the virus is expressed. In this report we show that lit(Con) mutations are up-promoter mutations in the cryptic DNA element e14 and that only one of the proteins, gplit, of about 34 kilodaltons, is required for the inhibition. We have sequenced the lit gene and the surrounding regions. From the sequence, and from cell fractionation studies, we conclude that gplit is an inner membrane protein. Since the assembly of T4 heads is thought to occur on the inner face of the inner membrane, we propose that gplit interferes with a normal regulation which coordinates the synthesis of proteins and the assembly of T4 heads.