Antitermination protein P7 of bacteriophage Xp10 distinguishes different types of transcriptional pausing by bacterial RNA polymerase

Abstract

Bacteriophage-encoded transcription antiterminators play essential roles in the regulation of gene expression during infection. Here, we characterize the effects of the antiterminator protein P7 of bacteriophage Xp10 on transcriptional pausing by Xanthomonas oryzae RNA polymerase (RNAP) at different types of pause-inducing signals. When acting alone, P7 inhibits only hairpin-stabilized pauses, likely by preventing hairpin formation. In the presence of NusA, P7 also suppresses backtracking-stabilized pauses and the his elemental pause, but not the consensus elemental pause, suggesting that these pause signals may be mechanistically different. Thus, P7 and other bacteriophage proteins that bind near the RNA exit channel of RNAP have evolved to regulate transcription by suppressing RNAP pausing at a subset of regulatory signals, and to co-opt NusA in doing so.