On the role of the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase sigma factor in T4 phage development

The rpoD800 mutation causing the temperature sensitivity of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase sigma factor has been used to demonstrate that the bacterial sigma factor is necessary throughout T4 phage development. In T4-infected RpoD800 mutant cells RNA synthesis is equally depressed at restrictive temperature at early and late stages of infection. The results show the bacterial sigma factor to be necessary for the synthesis of all RNA types in infected cells.