A mutation in an Escherichia coli ribosomal RNA operon that blocks the production of precursor 23 S ribosomal RNA by RNase III in vivo and in vitro.

We have isolated on a multicopy plasmid a mutant rrnB ribosomal RNA operon containing a 130 base-pair deletion immediately preceding the 23 S rRNA gene. The deletion shortens by just three base-pairs the 26 base-pair complementarity of the sequences that flank the 23 S rRNA gene, and which normally form an RNase III cleavage site in the rrnB primary transcript. Both in vivo and in vitro, cleavage at the altered RNase III site was almost completely abolished by the mutation. Our results therefore indicate that even a small perturbation of the double-stranded region normally recognized by RNase III strongly inhibits the action of the enzyme.