Homologs of the Escherichia coli F Element Protein TraR, Including Phage Lambda Orf73, Directly Reprogram Host Transcription.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial cells and their associated plasmids and bacteriophages encode numerous small proteins of unknown function. One example, the 73-amino-acid protein TraR, is encoded by the transfer operon of the conjugative F plasmid of Escherichia coli. TraR is a distant homolog of DksA, a protein found in almost all proteobacterial species that is required for ppGpp to regulate transcription during the stringent response. TraR and DksA increase or decrease transcription initiation depending on the kinetic features of the promoter by binding directly to RNA polymerase without binding to DNA. Unlike DksA, whose full activity requires ppGpp as a cofactor, TraR is fully active by itself and unaffected by ppGpp. TraR belongs to a family of divergent proteins encoded by proteobacterial bacteriophages a

SUBMITTER: Gopalkrishnan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9239242 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature