A possible role in transcription for the single-stranded DNA binding protein of bacteriophage T7

A spontaneous rifampicin-resistant mutant of E. coli, RpoB26, which inhibits the growth of bacteriophage T7, has been described in the accompanying paper (Schwarz et al.). The rifr mutation appears to increase the rate of transcriptional termination in a rho-deficient strain. T7 mutants with the ability to grow (Gor+) on the Rifr mutant were isolated, and some of their properties were investigated. One of these Gor+ mutants has a small deletion, located between nucleotides 9694 and 9820 of the T7 DNA sequence (Dunn and Studier 1980), which affects the size of the T7 single-stranded DNA binding protein (ssDBP), the product of gene 2.5 (p 2.5) (Dunn and Studier 1980). The Gor+ phenotype was also mapped to this region by genetic methods. Gor+ is recessive to the wild-type (Gor-) phenotype. This suggests that the T7 ssDBP may normally increase the frequency of transcriptional termination in the early region by binding to single-stranded nucleic acid configurations, and so affecting molecular conformations involved in the termination process. Excessive termination in RpoB26 could therefore be compensated for by alterations of the ssDBP.