Localization of the ribosome-releasing factor gene in the Escherichia coli chromosome.

The ribosome-releasing factor (RRF) gene was localized at a position between 2 and 6 min on the Escherichia coli chromosome by measuring the gene-dosage-dependent production of RRF in various E. coli F' merozygotes. This position was confirmed and refined by using a nucleotide probe corresponding to a 16-amino-acid sequence in RRF. It was found that the RRF gene was contained in pLC 6-32 of the Clark-Carbon Gene Bank. Restriction enzyme mapping of E. coli genomic DNA with the above probe led us to conclude that the RRF gene is situated in the 4-min region, somewhere downstream (clockwise) of the elongation factor Ts gene, tsf. A pLC 6-32-derived DNA fragment which carries the RRF gene was found to contain a partial sequence of tsf. The exact location of the translational initiation site of the RRF gene was determined to be 1.1 kilobases downstream from the translational termination site of tsf. The RRF gene is designated frr.