IDENTIFICATION OF A STRONG PROMOTER OF BACTERIOPHAGE-MB78 THAT LACKS CONSENSUS SEQUENCE AROUND MINUS-35 REGION AND INTERACTS WITH PHAGE SPECIFIC FACTOR

A strong promoter of bacteriophage MB78 does not have minus 35 consens us sequence although it has a TGn motif immediately upstream of minus 10 sequence as well as the AT rich UP element. It is efficiently recog nised by the sigma 70 RNA polymerase, however, a phage-specific factor competes with sigma 70 RNA polymerase for binding to this region, the binding of the factor being stronger than that of the polymerase. Con trary to the reports in the literature the polymerase appears not to b ind to the UP element whereas the phage-specific factor does. The latt er seems to be involved in the regulation of the promoter activity.