Abstract
The Escherichia coli single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) is implicated in DNA replication, recombination and repair1. On the chromosome, the ssb gene is located adjacent to the excision repair gene uvrA, but the two genes are transcribed in opposite directions2. uvrA has been shown to be part of the E. coli SOS system by introducing Mud(Ap, lac) insertions distal to the regulatory region of the gene in the chromosome3. Recent investigations suggest that SSB is also involved in the SOS response1,4,5. However, because the SSB protein is essential to the cell, the inducibility of the ssb gene cannot be investigated by the insertion method. Therefore, we used plas-mids harbouring the regulatory region of ssb fused to the galK structural gene, while leaving an intact ssb gene in the chromosome. We show here that expression of the ssb gene is dependent on two promoters of which one is damage inducible. Evidence is presented that the divergently transcribed ssb and uvrA genes are controlled by a common LexA binding site.
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Brandsma, J., Bosch, D., Backendorf, C. et al. A common regulatory region shared by divergently transcribed genes of the Escherichia coli SOS system. Nature 305, 243–245 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305243a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/305243a0
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