Howe K M, Newman A J, Garner I, Wallis A, Hayward R S
Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Nov 25;10(22):7425-38. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.22.7425.
The genes encoding the beta and beta' subunits of RNA polymerase in E.coli lie downstream of at least two ribosomal protein genes in a single unit of transcription. Treatment of E.coli with rifampicin, under conditions producing partial inhibition of general RNA synthesis, can strongly stimulate transcription of the polymerase genes, while activating the neighbouring ribosomal genes only slightly. We have investigated the mechanism of this effect by fusing strong promoters, a weak internal promoter, and an attenuator of the polymerase operon to the lacZ gene, in derivatives of plasmid pMC81. Studies of these fusions confirm our conclusion, based on similar fusions to galK, that rifampicin can foster readthrough of transcriptional terminators. They also suggest the existence of extra terminators and anti-termination elements in the above transcription unit.
大肠杆菌中编码RNA聚合酶β和β'亚基的基因位于单个转录单元中至少两个核糖体蛋白基因的下游。在产生对一般RNA合成部分抑制的条件下,用利福平处理大肠杆菌,可强烈刺激聚合酶基因的转录,而对相邻核糖体基因的激活作用则很轻微。我们通过将强启动子、弱内部启动子和聚合酶操纵子的弱化子与lacZ基因融合,在质粒pMC81的衍生物中研究了这种效应的机制。对这些融合体的研究证实了我们基于与galK的类似融合得出的结论,即利福平可促进转录终止子的通读。它们还表明上述转录单元中存在额外的终止子和抗终止元件。