A Novel, Simple, High-Throughput Method for Isolation of Genome-Wide Transposon Insertion Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12

Author(s):  
Takeyoshi Miki ◽  
Yoshihiro Yamamoto ◽  
Hideo Matsuda
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter I-Fan Wu ◽  
Curtis Ross ◽  
Deborah A. Siegele ◽  
James C. Hu

ABSTRACTDespite the demonstrated success of genome-wide genetic screens and chemical genomics studies at predicting functions for genes of unknown function or predicting new functions for well-characterized genes, their potential to provide insights into gene function hasn’t been fully explored. We systematically reanalyzed a published high-throughput phenotypic dataset for the model Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli K-12. The availability of high-quality annotation sets allowed us to compare the power of different metrics for measuring phenotypic profile similarity to correctly infer gene function. We conclude that there is no single best method; the three metrics tested gave comparable results for most gene pairs. We also assessed how converting qualitative phenotypes to discrete, qualitative phenotypes affected the association between phenotype and function. Our results indicate that this approach may allow phenotypic data from different studies to be combined to produce a larger dataset that may reveal functional connections between genes not detected in individual studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter I-Fan Wu ◽  
Curtis Ross ◽  
Deborah A Siegele ◽  
James C Hu

Abstract Despite the demonstrated success of genome-wide genetic screens and chemical genomics studies at predicting functions for genes of unknown function or predicting new functions for well-characterized genes, their potential to provide insights into gene function has not been fully explored. We systematically reanalyzed a published high-throughput phenotypic dataset for the model Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli K-12. The availability of high-quality annotation sets allowed us to compare the power of different metrics for measuring phenotypic profile similarity to correctly infer gene function. We conclude that there is no single best method; the three metrics tested gave comparable results for most gene pairs. We also assessed how converting quantitative phenotypes to discrete, qualitative phenotypes affected the association between phenotype and function. Our results indicate that this approach may allow phenotypic data from different studies to be combined to produce a larger dataset that may reveal functional connections between genes not detected in individual studies.


2003 ◽  
Vol 71 (9) ◽  
pp. 4985-4995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo G. Torres ◽  
James B. Kaper

ABSTRACT Adherence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) to the intestinal epithelium is essential for initiation of infection. Intimin is the only factor demonstrated to play a role in intestinal colonization by EHEC O157:H7. Other attempts to identify additional adhesion factors in vitro have been unsuccessful, suggesting that expression of these factors is under tight regulation. We sought to identify genes involved in the control of adherence of EHEC O157:H7 to cultured epithelial cells. A total of 5,000 independent transposon insertion mutants were screened for their ability to adhere to HeLa cells, and 7 mutants were isolated with a markedly enhanced adherence. The mutants adhered at levels 113 to 170% that of the wild-type strain, and analysis of the protein profiles of these mutants revealed several proteins differentially expressed under in vitro culture conditions. We determined the sequence of the differentially expressed proteins and further investigated the function of OmpA, whose expression was increased in a mutant with an insertionally inactivated tcdA gene. An isogenic ompA mutant showed reduced adherence compared to the parent strain. Disruption of the ompA gene in the tdcA mutant strain abolished the hyperadherent phenotype, and anti-OmpA serum inhibited adhesion of wild-type and tdcA mutant strains to HeLa cells. Enhanced adhesion mediated by OmpA was also observed with Caco-2 cells, and anti-OmpA serum blocked adherence to HeLa cells of other EHEC O157:H7 strains. Our results indicate that multiple elements control adherence and OmpA acts as an adhesin in EHEC O157:H7.


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minna-Liisa Anko ◽  
Jussi Kurittu ◽  
Matti Karp

We report here the construction of a bacterial reporter system for high-throughput screening of antimicrobial agents. The test organism is the Escherichia coli K-12 strain carrying luciferase genes luxC, luxD, luxA, luxB, and luxE from the bioluminescent bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens in a runaway replication plasmid. The replication of the plasmid can be induced, resulting in a change of the plasmid copy number from 1-2/cell to several hundreds per cell within tens of minutes. This increase in plasmid copies is independent of the replication of the host cells. The system will therefore amplify the effects of antibiotics inhibiting bacterial replication machinery, such as fluoroquinolones, and the inhibitory effects can be measured in real time by luminometry. The biosensor was compared with a strain engineered to emit light constitutively, and it was shown to be much more sensitive to various antibiotics than conventional overnight cultivation methods. The approach shows great potential for high-throughput screening of new compounds.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 3033-3039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikiro Hayashi ◽  
Kazuhiko Tabata

ABSTRACTAnl-glutamine-overproducing mutant of anEscherichia coliK-12-derived strain was selected from randomly mutagenized cells in the course ofl-alanyl-l-glutamine strain development. Genome-wide mutation analysis unveiled a novel mechanism forl-glutamine overproduction in this mutant. Three mutations were identified that are related to thel-glutamine overproduction phenotype, namely, an intergenic mutation in the 5′-flanking region ofyeiGand two nonsynonymous mutations ingyrA(Gly821Ser and Asp830Asn). Expression ofyeiG, which encodes a putative esterase, was enhanced by the intergenic mutation. The nonsynonymous mutations ingyrA, a gene that encodes the DNA gyrase α subunit, affected the DNA topology of the cells. Gyrase is a type II topoisomerase that adds negative supercoils to double-stranded DNA. When the opposing DNA-relaxing activity was enhanced by overexpressing topoisomerase I (topA) and topoisomerase IV (parCandparE), an increase inl-glutamine production was observed. These results indicate that a reduction of chromosomal DNA supercoils in the mutant caused an increase inl-glutamine accumulation. The mechanism underlying this finding is discussed in this paper. We also constructed anl-glutamine-hyperproducing strain by attenuating cellularl-glutamine degradation activity. Although the reconstituted mutant (withyeiGtogether withgyrA) produced 200 mMl-glutamine, metabolic engineering finally enabled construction of a mutant that accumulated more than 500 mMl-glutamine.


2000 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 5933-5942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyla J. Melkerson-Watson ◽  
Christopher K. Rode ◽  
Lixin Zhang ◽  
Betsy Foxman ◽  
Craig A. Bloch

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli J96 is a uropathogen having both broad similarities to and striking differences from nonpathogenic, laboratoryE. coli K-12. Strain J96 contains three large (>100-kb) unique genomic segments integrated on the chromosome; two are recognized as pathogenicity islands containing urovirulence genes. Additionally, the strain possesses a fourth smaller accessory segment of 28 kb and two deletions relative to strain K-12. We report an integrated physical and genetic map of the 5,120-kb J96 genome. The chromosome contains 26 NotI, 13 BlnI, and 7 I-CeuI macrorestriction sites. Macrorestriction mapping was rapidly accomplished by a novel transposon-based procedure: analysis of modified minitransposon insertions served to align the overlapping macrorestriction fragments generated by three different enzymes (each sharing a common cleavage site within the insert), thus integrating the three different digestion patterns and ordering the fragments. The resulting map, generated from a total of 54 mini-Tn10insertions, was supplemented with auxanography and Southern analysis to indicate the positions of insertionally disrupted aminosynthetic genes and cloned virulence genes, respectively. Thus, it contains not only physical, macrorestriction landmarks but also the loci for eight housekeeping genes shared with strain K-12 and eight acknowledged urovirulence genes; the latter confirmed clustering of virulence genes at the large unique accessory chromosomal segments. The 115-kb J96 plasmid was resolved by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis inNotI digests. However, because the plasmid lacks restriction sites for the enzymes BlnI and I-CeuI, it was visualized in BlnI and I-CeuI digests only of derivatives carrying plasmid inserts artificially introducing these sites. Owing to an I-SceI site on the transposon, the plasmid could also be visualized and sized from plasmid insertion mutants after digestion with this enzyme. The insertional strains generated in construction of the integrated genomic map provide useful physical and genetic markers for further characterization of the J96 genome.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-365
Author(s):  
Tim van Opijnen ◽  
Henry L. Levin

The goal of genomics and systems biology is to understand how complex systems of factors assemble into pathways and structures that combine to form living organisms. Great advances in understanding biological processes result from determining the function of individual genes, a process that has classically relied on characterizing single mutations. Advances in DNA sequencing has made available the complete set of genetic instructions for an astonishing and growing number of species. To understand the function of this ever-increasing number of genes, a high-throughput method was developed that in a single experiment can measure the function of genes across the genome of an organism. This occurred approximately 10 years ago, when high-throughput DNA sequencing was combined with advances in transposon-mediated mutagenesis in a method termed transposon insertion sequencing (TIS). In the subsequent years, TIS succeeded in addressing fundamental questions regarding the genes of bacteria, many of which have been shown to play central roles in bacterial infections that result in major human diseases. The field of TIS has matured and resulted in studies of hundreds of species that include significant innovations with a number of transposons. Here, we summarize a number of TIS experiments to provide an understanding of the method and explanation of approaches that are instructive when designing a study. Importantly, we emphasize critical aspects of a TIS experiment and highlight the extension and applicability of TIS into nonbacterial species such as yeast.


2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (10) ◽  
pp. 3712-3720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thusitha S. Gunasekera ◽  
Laszlo N. Csonka ◽  
Oleg Paliy

ABSTRACT Osmotic stress is known to increase the thermotolerance and oxidative-stress resistance of bacteria by a mechanism that is not adequately understood. We probed the cross-regulation of continuous osmotic and heat stress responses by characterizing the effects of external osmolarity (0.3 M versus 0.0 M NaCl) and temperature (43°C versus 30°C) on the transcriptome of Escherichia coli K-12. Our most important discovery was that a number of genes in the SoxRS and OxyR oxidative-stress regulons were up-regulated by high osmolarity, high temperature, or a combination of both stresses. This result can explain the previously noted cross-protection of osmotic stress against oxidative and heat stresses. Most of the genes shown in previous studies to be induced during the early phase of adaptation to hyperosmotic shock were found to be also overexpressed under continuous osmotic stress. However, there was a poorer overlap between the heat shock genes that are induced transiently after high temperature shifts and the genes that we found to be chronically up-regulated at 43°C. Supplementation of the high-osmolarity medium with the osmoprotectant glycine betaine, which reduces the cytoplasmic K+ pool, did not lead to a universal reduction in the expression of osmotically induced genes. This finding does not support the hypothesis that K+ is the central osmoregulatory signal in Enterobacteriaceae.


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