Bacteriophage λ N protein inhibits transcription slippage by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase

Transcriptional slippage is a class of error in which ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase incorporates nucleotides out of register, with respect to the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) template. This phenomenon is involved in gene regulation mechanisms and in the development of diverse diseases. The bacteriophage λ N protein reduces transcriptional slippage within actively growing cells and in vitro. N appears to stabilize the RNA/DNA hybrid, particularly at the 5' end, preventing loss of register between transcript and template. This report provides the first evidence of a protein that directly influences transcriptional slippage, and provides a clue about the molecular mechanism of transcription termination and N-mediated antitermination.