Specific hydrophobic residues in the 4 helix of CII are crucial for maintaining its tetrameric structure and directing the lysogenic choice

Abstract

The CII protein of the temperate bacteriophage lambda is the decision-making factor that determines the viral lytic/lysogenic choice. It is a homotetrameric transcription activator that recognizes and binds specific direct repeat sequences TTGCN(6)TTGC in the lambda genome. The quaternary structure of CII is held by a four-helix bundle. It is known that the tetrameric organization of CII is necessary for its activity, but the molecular mechanism behind this requirement is not known. By specific site-directed mutagenesis of hydrophobic residues in the alpha4 helix of CII that constitutes the four-helix bundle, we found that residues leu70, val74 and leu78 were crucial for maintaining the tetrameric structure of the protein. When any of these residues was substituted by a polar one, CII lost its activity and failed to promote lysogeny. This loss of activity was accompanied by the inability of CII to form tetramers, to bind DNA or to activate transcription.