Abstract
"Opening potential"s of DNA segments of about ten base pairs in length were calculated for eleven promoters of Escherichia coli using the thermodynamic parameter values [Gotoh and Tagashira (1981) Biopolymers 20, 1043-1058] for the stabilities of ten kinds of nearest neighbor base pair doublets in a melting reaction. They were compared with the strength of each promoter determined experimentally with a "mixed transcription" system [Kajitani and Ishihama (1983) Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 3873-3888]. A positive correlation was found between the calculated opening potential in the -9 to +3 region (+1 denotes the nucleotide position at which the transcription starts) and the rate of open complex formation.