Genes and Development
Vol. 11, No. 17, pp. 2204-2213, September 1, 1997

RESEARCH PAPER
Translational repression by a transcriptional elongation factor

Helen R. Wilson,¹ Luis Kameyama,^1,3 Jian-guang Zhou,¹ Gabriel Guarneros,² and Donald L. Court^1,4

¹ Molecular Control and Genetics Section, Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology, ABL-Basic Research Program, National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201 USA; ² Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-IPN), Mexico City DF14, Mexico

One of the classical positive regulators of gene expression is bacteriophage  N protein. N regulates the transcription of early phage genes by participating in the formation of a highly processive, terminator-resistant transcription complex and thereby stimulates the expression of genes lying downstream of transcriptional terminators. Also included in this antiterminating transcription complex are an RNA site (NUT) and host proteins (Nus). Here we demonstrate that N has an additional, hitherto unknown regulatory role, as a repressor of the translation of its own gene. N-dependent repression does not occur when NUT is deleted, demonstrating that N-mediated antitermination and translational repression both require the same cis-acting site in the RNA. In addition, we have identified one nut and several host mutations that eliminate antitermination and not translational repression, suggesting the independence of these two N-mediated mechanisms. Finally, the position of nutL with respect to the gene whose expression is repressed is important.

[Key Words: Bacteriophage ; antitermination; N; RNA-binding proteins; long-distance regulation]