Bacterial promoter repression by DNA looping without protein-protein binding competition.

ABSTRACT: The Escherichia coli lactose operon provides a paradigm for understanding gene control by DNA looping where the lac repressor (LacI) protein competes with RNA polymerase for DNA binding. Not all promoter loops involve direct competition between repressor and RNA polymerase. This raises the possibility that positioning a promoter within a tightly constrained DNA loop is repressive per se, an idea that has previously only been considered in vitro. Here, we engineer living E. coli bacteria to measure repression due to promoter positioning within such a tightly constrained DNA loop in the absence of protein-protein binding competition. We show that promoters held within such DNA loops are repressed ∼100-fold, with up to an additional ∼10-fold repression (∼1000-fold total) dependent on topologi

SUBMITTER: Becker NA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4027209 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature