TRANSLATIONAL, AUTOGENOUS REGULATION OF GENE-32 EXPRESSION DURING BACTERIOPHAGE-T4 INFECTION

Functional half-life measurements of the bacteriophage T4 gene 32 mRNA indicate that this mRNA is extremely stable. Regulation of gene 32 expression at the transcriptional level cannot account for the rapidity with which P32 [gene 32 protein] synthesis can be repressed. Derepression of P32 synthesis occurs in the presence of rifampicin, a drug which inhibits transcriptional initiation. T4-infected [Escherichia coli] cultures in which P32 expression is repressed possess almost as much gene 32 mRNA as derepressed cultures. Expression of the T4 P32 is apparently regulated at the level of translation.