ENERGY-DEPENDENT DEGRADATION OF LAMBDA-O PROTEIN IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI

Protein O of bacteriophage lambda is a short-lived protein which has a key role in the replication of the phage DNA in Escherichia coli. Her e we present evidence that lambda O degradation is energy dependent: i t is impaired by cyanide and alpha-methylglucoside, both of which inhi bit cellular energy metabolism. Removal of these inhibitors restored t he degradation of lambda O. Our experiments suggest that limited amoun ts of cellular energy are sufficient to support lambda O degradation. In addition, degradation of lambda O protein is prevented by a mutatio n in the E. coli clpP gene, but not by a mutation in the clpA gene. Th ese results suggest that the ClpP protease is involved in the energy-d ependent degradation of the lambda O protein.