Control of Transcription from the r Strand of Bacteriophage Lambda (original) (raw)

1. Ira Herskowitz and
2. Ethan Signer
3. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Excerpt

Pre-introduction

“_You know that something's happening/but you don't know what it is/do you, Mr. Jones_”

R. Zimmerman

Lambda genetics is often treated as an arcane subject of somewhat overwhelming complexity. Hence we have tried our best to make this paper intelligible to the average molecular biologist, while maintaining insofar as possible that baroque flavor for which lambda is justly famous. We offer in advance our regrets for the extent to which we have not succeeded.

Introduction

Bacteriophage λ usually exists intracellularly in either the vegetative state, where almost all the genes are expressed, or the prophage state, where almost all the genes are repressed. Repression is brought about by the prophage repressor, which directly blocks transcription of the two early operons (Fig. 1). When the repressor is inactivated, the early operons are transcribed to give proteins necessary for DNA synthesis, and also regulatory proteins that stimulate the subsequent expression of...