Gene expression in the Streptomyces temperate phage phi C31

The repressor gene, c, of the temperate Streptomyces phage, phi C31 was previously cloned and sequenced, and predicted to encode a 74-kDa protein. The c gene actually produces three in-frame, N-terminally different, C-terminally identical proteins of 74, 54 and 42 kDa. The repressor proteins are translated from a corresponding nest of transcripts. Genetic and biochemical evidence suggests that the transcription of the c locus is autoregulated possibly by the 42-kDa protein binding to a highly conserved 16-bp perfect inverted repeat. The 16-bp sequence is present at at least twelve loci throughout the phi C31 genome. Transcription of the 'early' region is complex, possibly involving phage-specific promoters. The phi C31 terminators display sequence conservation and may be regulated. The phi C31 gene 'k' may encode a nucleotide kinase-encoding gene.