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J Virol. 1974 May; 13(5): 1110-1117
Copyright © 1974 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Transcription Unit Mapping in Bacteriophage T7 II. Proportionality of Number of Gene Copies, mRNA, and Gene Product

Department of Biophysics and Genetics, University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver, Colorado 80220

ABSTRACT

The effect of UV irradiation of bacteriophage T7 on in vivo early RNA synthesis has been studied by direct quantitation of the gene-specific RNA transcripts. The results show that the early region of phage T7 is transcribed from left to right as a single unit. Furthermore, gene inactivation, the UV sensitivity of synthesis of gene-specific RNA, and the UV sensitivity of synthesis of the corresponding proteins all follow pseudo first-order kinetics in multiply infected cells, demonstrating a random statistical correlation between both transcriptional sampling of gene copies and translational sampling of the resultant RNA transcripts. In addition, these simple kinetics imply an absence of positive feedback mechanisms compensating for the differential decline of individual early gene products in cells multiply infected with phage T7.