The cloned bacteriophage T4 pin gene functions to stabilize several different kinds of proteins in Escherichia coli bacteria. Incomplete proteins such as puromycyl polypeptides, abnormal but complete proteins such as the lambda phage tsO protein, and labile eukaryotic proteins encoded by genes cloned in E. coli such as mature human fibroblast interferon are stabilized in cells in which the T4 pin gene is expressed. The cloned T4 pin gene does not seem to affect the turnover of normal E. coli proteins.
