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Physical evidence for the temporal transition of transcription in bacteriophage λ

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Summary

A high proportion of intracellular λ DNA molecules are found to have D-loops, when isolated under four different conditions: (1) λOts after 7 min at 31°C in the presence of chloramphenicol; (2) λOts after 7 min at 31° C without chlormaphenicol; (3) λOst after 30 min at 42° C; and (4) λcIIcIII after 50 min at 37° C. The great majority of these D-loops contain RNA and are produced by E. coli RNA polymerase. In the presence of chloramphenicol, D-loops are mostly limited to the immediate early regions of the major leftward and rightward operons. At early times, with no chloramphenicol present, D-loops map primarily within the delayed early regions of the two major operons. At late times, D-loops are found mostly within the major late operon of the bacteriophage DNA. This physical evidence corroborates evidence of the temporal transition in λ transcription obtained by other means. Chloramphenicol is shown to block the transition from immediate early to delayed early transcription.

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Communicated by G. O'Donovan

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Erdile, L.F., Schnös, M. & Inman, R.B. Physical evidence for the temporal transition of transcription in bacteriophage λ. Mol Gen Genet 186, 558–565 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337964

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00337964

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