The catabolite activator protein (CAP) of Escherichia coli, complexed with cAMP, is required for efficient initiation of transcription from the galactose P1 promoter (start site at + 1) but not from the overlapping P2 promoter (start site at -5) [

The molecular mechanisms whereby RNA polymerase, catabolite activator protein (CAP), and cyclic AMP (cAMP) participate in transcriptional regulation at the galactose operon have been probed by a variety of in vitro techniques. Interactions between purified proteins and promoter-containing DNA fragments were assayed by gel electrophoresis, by resistance to restriction endonuclease digestion, and by monitoring runoff transcripts. The data bear on the multiple functions that CAP performs in gal control. A CAP-cAMP complex can exclude RNA polymerase from one of the two overlapping promoter regions (P2), thereby targeting the enzyme to the other (P1); this process is markedly influenced by the cAMP level. In addition, a second CAP molecule is involved in a cooperative process, which, at low cAMP, is required for efficient formation of transcriptionally competent complexes at P1. This second CAP may serve to stabilize the 1:1:1 CAP-polymerase-gal DNA intermediate under physiological conditions, thus enhancing initiation from P1 relative to P2. Kinetic analysis reveals that the modest effect of CAP on the rate of P1 open complex formation can be resolved into about a 4-fold increase in the binding of RNA polymerase to the P1 region, plus a 1.5-fold elevation in the rate of isomerization of enzyme-promoter complexes to the open state.

The rates of formation of RNA polymerase-promoter open complexes at the galactose P2 and lactose UV5 promoters of E. coli were studied using polyacrylamide gels to separate the heparin-resistant complexes from unbound DNA. Both the apparent rate and extent of reaction at these promoters are inhibited at excess RNA polymerase. This inhibition, which can be relieved by the addition of non-promoter DNA, is interpreted to be the result of occlusion of the promoter site by nonspecifically bound polymerase. Additionally, biphasic kinetics are observed at both gal P2 and lac UV5, but not at the PR promoter of phage lambda. This behavior disappears when the concentration of RNA polymerase in the binding reaction is less than that of the promoter fragment. It is proposed that at excess enzyme nonspecifically bound polymerase molecules sliding along the DNA may "bump" closed complexes from the promoter site thereby reducing the rate of open complex formation. Kinetics mechanisms quantifying both the occlusion and bumping phenomena are presented.

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We have previously described an Escherichia coli K-12 mutant, Y49, which restricts the growth of bacteriophage T7 and causes the accumulation of short DNA molecules and head-related particles during infection. We now show that the basis for these effects is the inability of the T7 gene 2 product to inactivate the Y49 RNA polymerase during infection, similar to what has been shown by DeWyngaert and Hinkle (

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