High resolution experimental and theoretical thermal denaturation studies on small overlapping restriction fragments containing the Escherichia coli lactose genetic control region.

The distribution of thermal stability in the Escherichia coli lac control region is evaluated from the melting behavior of 5 short (80-219 base pairs (bp)) sequenced DNA restriction fragments containing various parts of this sequence. The thermal denaturation of these fragments was measured at 3 salt concentrations. The previous notion that the melting curves for small fragments are sharp and asymmetric in 0.01 M Na+ and broadened and less asymmetric at 0.105 and 0.505 M Na+ is confirmed and the possible explanations are discussed. The existence of two thermodynamic boundaries in this region is also confirmed. The exact location of the boundary upstream of the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CAP) binding site is accurately determined from melting experiments at 260 and 282 nm. The secondary boundary located between the promoter and operator sequence is apparent at the two higher salt concentrations and begins to disappear at the lower salt concentration. The physical interpretation of the melting experiments is compared to the results of theoretical predictions derived from the known sequence of the fragments.