Branched-chain amino acid transport regulation in mutants blocked in tRNA maturation and transcriptional termination.

The regulation of branched-chain amino acid transport and binding protein biosynthesis was studied in Escherichia coli strains containing hisT (the structural gene for pseudouridine synthetase) and rho (the structural gene for the mRNA transcriptional termination factor rho) mutations. The results indicate that the hisT strain cannot be fully derepressed for transport and that the hisT rho double mutant is partially derepressed under excess leucine conditions, but cannot be further derepressed by leucine deprivation. These data are consistent with a model in which fully mature tRNALeu is required for derepression and in which rho interacts with tRNALeu in regulating transport by terminating transcription, especially in excess-leucine growth conditions.