UV-lysogenic induction of lambda phage in lexAl mutants of Escherichia coli: kinetics of the process

Although the lex gene has been described as being required for lysogenic induction, both this work and the work of others have reported lambda prophage induction in some lexA mutants. However, the characteristics of the process were not defined. UV induction of prophage in a lexAl mutant is described at a slightly lower level and requiring 2 times longer than the wild type. As demonstrated in some work, in cells treated with low levels of rifampicin (RIF) no new synthesis of RecA protein is needed for the prophage induction although the onset of lysis is delayed. It is suggested that the lysogenic induction in lexA cells is due to the same mechanism that induces prophage in the wild type cells treated with RIF. That is, the induction is due to the cleavage of lambda repressor by the basal RecA protease in the DNA-single-strand gap, since RecA protease and monomer repressor both have high affinity for this type of DNA. So, LexA protein need not be cleaved for the prophage induction. No Weigle-reactivation (WR) was detected in the lex mutant even after a long post-irradiation incubation, suggesting that unlike prophage induction, WR requires LexA protein cleavage. (author)