Hexamer of bacteriophage f2 coat protein as a repressor of bacteriophage RNA polymerase synthesis.

Formation of complex I between phage f2 RNA and coat protein, leading to repression of phage RNA polymerase synthesis, depends nonlinearly upon the concentration of the coat protein. Maximum formation of complex I was observed when six molecules of coat protein were bound to one molecule of RNA. RNase digestion of a glutaraldehyde-fixed complex left, as the products, coat protein oligomers. The heaviest, hexamers, predominated in the mixture. It was also shown that, in an ionic environment required for phage protein synthesis, coat protein at a concentration optimum for complex I formation exists in solution as a dimer. The results indicate that the translational repression of the RNA polymerase cistron is due to a cooperative attachment to phage template of three dimers of coat protein, forming a hexameric cluster on an RNA strand.