Aberrant regulation of synthesis and degradation of viral proteins in coliphage λ-infected UV-irradiated cells and in minicells

The patterns of bacteriophage λ proteins synthesized in UV-irradiated Escherichia coli cells and in anucleate minicells are significantly different; both systems exhibit aberrations of regulation in λ gene expression. In unirradiated cells or cells irradiated with low UV doses (<600 J/m2), regulation of λ protein synthesis is controlled by the regulatory proteins CI, N, CII, CIII, Cro, and Q. As the UV dose increases, activation of transcription of the cI, rexA, and int genes by CII and CIII proteins fails to occur and early protein synthesis, normally inhibited by the action of Cro, continues. After high UV doses (>2,000 J/m2), late λ protein synthesis does not occur. Progression through the sequence of regulatory steps in λ gene expression is slower in infected minicells. In minicells, there is no detectable cII- and cIII-dependent synthesis of CI, rexA, or Int proteins and inhibition of early protein synthesis by Cro activity is always incomplete. The synthesis of early b region proteins is not subject to control by CI, N, or Cro proteins, and evidence is presented suggesting that, in minicells, transcription of the early b region is initiated at a promoter(s) within the b region. Proteolytic cleavage of the regulatory proteins O and N and of the capsid proteins C, B, and Nu3 is much reduced in infected minicells. Exposure of minicells to very high UV doses before infection does not completely inhibit late λ protein synthesis.