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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2000, p. 216-220, Vol. 182, No. 1
Department of Biochemistry, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4935,1
and Centro de Investigación sobre Fijación de
Nitrógeno, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, Cuernavaca A.P. 565-A, Morelos 62100, Mexico2
Received 19 July 1999/Accepted 6 October 1999
The pR and pRM promoters of bacteriophage
lambda direct transcription in divergent directions from start sites
separated by 83 phosphodiester bonds. We had previously shown that the
presence of an RNA polymerase at pR interfered with open
complex formation at pRM and that this effect was
alleviated by the deletion of 10 bp between the two promoters. Here we
present a detailed characterization of the dependence of the
interference on the interpromoter distance. It was found that the
reduced interference between the two promoters is unique to the 10-bp
deletion. The relief of interference was demonstrated to be due to the
facilitation of a step subsequent to RNA polymerase binding to the
pRM promoter. A model to explain these observations is
proposed. A search of known Escherichia coli promoters
identified three pairs of divergent promoters with similar separations
to those investigated here.
0021-9193/0/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Promoter Interference in a Bacteriophage Lambda Control Region:
Effects of a Range of Interpromoter Distances
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University,
10900 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44106-4935. Phone: (216) 368-3684. Fax: (216) 368-4544. E-mail: pld2{at}po.cwru.edu.
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