Transcription antitermination in an Escherichia coli haemolysin operon is directed progressively by cis-acting DNA sequences upstream of the promoter region

Abstract

Export of haemolysin protein (HlyA) directed by the Escherichia coli pHly152 hly determinant is dependent upon transcriptional activation, primarily strong intraoperon transcript antitermination imposed between the haemolysin structural genes hlyC and hlyA and the contiguous downstream export genes hlyB and hlyD. Transcript elongation was dictated by a DNA sequence several kb upstream of the rho-independent terminator but could not be assigned to a discrete locus; on the contrary, it was progressive, increasing with the addition of up to 3.5 kbp of operon-proximal sequence containing the insertion elements IS2 and IS91. Antitermination was prominent throughout logarithmic growth but absent in stationary phase, and was effective only in cis but not in trans. Primer extension indicated that transcription activation utilized the native transcriptional start sites of the unactivated hly operon.