Functional dissection of Escherichia coli promoters: information in the transcribed region is involved in late steps of the overall process.
After binding to a promoter Escherichia coli RNA polymerase is in contact with a region of about 70 bp. Around 20 bp of this sequence are transcribed. Information encoded within this transcribed region is involved in late steps of the functional program of a promoter. By changing such 'down-stream' sequences promoter strength in vivo can be varied more than 10-fold. By contrast, information for early steps of the promoter program such as recognition by the enzyme and formation of a stable complex resides in a central core region of about 35 bp. Our data show that the strength of a promoter can be limited at different levels of the overall process. Consequently promoters of identical strength can exhibit different structures due to an alternate optimization of their program.
D001483:Base Sequence; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases