Effect of infection with T-even phage on the constitutive synthesis of β-galactosidase in Escherichia coli

The capacity for inducible or fully constitutive β-d-galactosidase synthesis was transmitted to lac^- Escherichia coli by high-frequency transduction of the lac region. The rate of decay of this property was measured following infection of the transductants with bacteriophage T6. It was found that the decay of induced and of constitutive β-galactosidase-forming capacity proceeds at the same rate. The results show that constitutive β-galactosidase synthesis is not due to the stabilization of enzyme-specific messenger RNA during translation.