The uvrB gene of Escherichia coli has both lexA-repressed and lexA-independent promoters

Abstract We have found that the uvrB gene of Escherichia coil is transcribed from at least two promoters, which we call P1 and P2. Transcription from P1 begins with an ATP at +1, and transcription from P2 begins primarily with a GTP at −31. A binding site for the lexA protein (LEXA), located between the −35 sequence and Pribnow box of P2, regulates transcription from this promoter. In vitro, LEXA inhibits transcription from P2 but has no detectable effect on transcription from P1. A third promoter, P3, was also detected at −341; transcription from P3 is toward uvrB but terminates in vitro in the region of the LEXA binding site. The binding of LEXA to P2 inhibits transcription from the P3 promoter even though several hundred nucleotides separate the two promoters. The data suggest that a transcribing RNA polymerase stalls when it reaches the repressor-operator complex but remains bound to the DNA, causing a jamming of RNA polymerases between P3 and the repressor-operator complex at P2. The physiological significance of P3 is unknown.