Internal promoters of the his operon in Salmonella typhimurium

Two internal promoters in the his operon of S. typhimurium have been precisely mapped genetically. The internal promoters are found in, or very close to gene border regions in the his operon. The his operon was examined for the presence of additional internal promoters whose transcripts were sensitive to rho-mediated transcription termination and therefore had escaped detection. No new internal promoters were found. It is argued that the internal promoters described here are not likely to be fortuitous message start sites, but may play a physiologically important role in operon expression.