TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVATION OF THE BACILLUS-SUBTILIS SPOIIG PROMOTER BY THE RESPONSE REGULATOR SPO0A IS INDEPENDENT OF THE C-TERMINAL DOMAINOF THE RNA-POLYMERASE ALPHA-SUBUNIT

In vitro transcription from the spoIIG promoter by Bacillus subtilis R NA polymerase reconstituted with wild-type alpha subunits and with C-t erminal deletion mutants of the alpha subunit was equally stimulated b y the response regulator Spo0A. Some differences in the structure of o pen complexes formed by RNA polymerase containing alpha subunit mutant s were noted, although the wild-type and mutant polymerases appeared t o use the same initiation mechanism.