Lambda repressor mutants that are better substrates for RecA-mediated cleavage

RecA-mediated cleavage of the bacteriophage lambda repressor results in inactivation of the protein and leads to induction of the lambda prophage. Here, we report the identification of three mutations in lambda repressor that significantly increase the rate of RecA-mediated cleavage. These mutations were isolated as intragenic second-site suppressors of a mutation (ind-) which prevents cleavage. Purified repressor proteins that contain both the ind- mutation and one of the second-site mutations undergo cleavage at near wild-type rates. Purified repressors that contain the second-site mutations in otherwise wild-type backgrounds undergo RecA-mediated cleavage at significantly faster rates than wild-type, and form dimers more poorly than the wild-type protein. In related experiments, we found that other repressor mutants that dimerize poorly are also better substrates for RecA-mediated cleavage. Conversely, we show that a covalent disulfide-bonded repressor dimer is resistant to cleavage. These results support a model in which repressor monomers are the only substrate in the cleavage reaction.