Function of transcription cleavage factors GreA and GreB at a regulatory pause site.

Gre proteins of prokaryotes, and SII proteins of eukaryotes and archaea, are transcription elongation factors that promote an endogenous transcript cleavage activity of RNA polymerases; this process promotes elongation through obstructive regions of DNA, including transcription pauses that act as sites of genetic regulation. We show that a regulatory pause in the early part of the late gene operon of bacteriophage lambda is subject to such cleavage and resynthesis. In cells lacking the cleavage factors GreA and GreB, the pause is prolonged, and RNA polymerase occupies a variant position at the pause site. Furthermore, GreA and GreB are required to mediate efficient function of the lambda gene Q antiterminator at this site. Thus, cleavage factors are necessary for the natural progression of RNA polymerase in vivo.