Escherichia coli mutations that block transcription termination by phage HK022 Nun protein

The nun gene product of the lambdoid coliphage HK022 provokes premature transcription termination at, or near, the phage lambda nut sites. Termination by Nun and antitermination by lambda N protein both require the nut sites and Escherichia coli NusA, NusB and NusE proteins. To characterize further the host requirements for Nun termination, we selected host mutations that blocked termination at lambda nutR. In addition to mutations in nusA, nusB and nusE, we obtained mutations in rpoC, encoding the RNA polymerase beta' subunit. The nusA and rpoC mutations suppressed Nun termination but not antitermination by lambda N function. The mutations antagonized Nun only at lambda nutR; termination at lambda nutL occurred in all the mutant strains. Thus, nutL is not functionally equivalent to nutR. We conclude that the host requirements for Nun termination overlap but are not identical with those for N antitermination, and, in particular, that the beta' subunit of RNP may be Nun-specific.