Transcript secondary structures regulate transcription termination at the attenuator of S. marcescens tryptophan operon

Abstract

The regulatory behavior of deletion mutants lacking different segments of the leader region of the tryptophan operon of S. marcescens were analyzed. The model in which a particular RNA structure, the terminator, is recognized during transcription as a transcription termination signal is supported. An alternative RNA structure, the anti-terminator, prevents formation of the terminator. The roles of translation, ribosome stalling and shifts between alternative RNA secondary structures is simply to regulate formation of the terminator.