An amino-terminal fragment of lac repressor binds specifically to lac operator.
We have examined the effect of an aminoterminal peptide from the lac repressor (residues 1-59) on the methylation of purines in the lac operator with dimethyl sulfate. The peptide perturbs the methylation of the operator, and the peptide-induced pattern of inhibition and enhancement of methylation, across the operator, closely resembles the pattern induced by intact repressor. This demonstrates that this small amino-terminal peptide binds specifically to the lac operator and that the mechanism of recognition and binding is basically the same as that of intact repressor.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
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Ogata
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Gilbert