A cryptic ribosome binding site, false signals in reporter systems and avoidance of protein translation chaos.

The expression of reporter gene may be induced by activation of cryptic signalling sequences, as we found while constructing the mutS-lacZ fusion gene. We cloned the Escherichia coli lacZ gene encoding beta-galactosidase into a plasmid vector carrying the Thermus thermophilus mutS gene. The clones expected to produce beta-galactosidase as the C-terminal fusion were selected for the complementation of beta-galactosidase activity in a lacZ deficient E.