L-arabinose isomerase formation in a conditional mutant of gene araA of Escherichia coli B-r.

A temperature-sensitive mutant of Escherichia coli in which the synthesis of l-arabinose isomerase is blocked during growth at 42 C was found to possess the following properties. (i) The mutation occurred in the structural gene for the isomerase, gene araA. (ii) During growth at elevated temperatures the mutant accumulates a product which is a precursor to the active enzyme. (iii) The precursor produced at 42 C is slowly converted to active enzyme at 28 C in the absence of protein and ribonucleic acid synthesis. It is concluded that the mutation results in a change in the structure of isomerase which causes formation of active enzyme to be thermolabile at a step beyond the level of translation.