Autoregulation of gene expression: rho.

Autoregulation of the rho gene insures a controlled level of a critical gene product independent of cellular changes. We have investigated the autoregulation of rho, the gene that encodes the transcription termination factor, rho. In a DNA dependent in vitro coupled transcription-translation system, rho represses its own synthesis, confirming the autoregulatory nature of rho. srho is believed to perform its negative regulatory role by modulating transcription termination at an early site in the operon.