scholarly journals Chi-Dependent Intramolecular Recombination in Escherichia coli

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-557
Author(s):  
Rachel Friedman-Ohana ◽  
Iris Karunker ◽  
Amikam Cohen

Abstract Homologous recombination in Escherichia coli is enhanced by a cis-acting octamer sequence named Chi (5′-GCTGGTGG-3′) that interacts with RecBCD. To gain insight into the mechanism of Chi-enhanced recombination, we recruited an experimental system that permits physical monitoring of intramolecular recombination by linear substrates released by in vivo restriction from infecting chimera phage. Recombination of the released substrates depended on recA, recBCD and cis-acting Chi octamers. Recombination proficiency was lowered by a xonA mutation and by mutations that inactivated the RuvABC and RecG resolution enzymes. Activity of Chi sites was influenced by their locations and by the number of Chi octamers at each site. A single Chi site stimulated recombination, but a combination of Chi sites on the two homologs was synergistic. These data suggest a role for Chi at both ends of the linear substrate. Chi was lost in all recombinational exchanges stimulated by a single Chi site. Exchanges in substrates with Chi sites on both homologs occurred in the interval between the sites as well as in the flanking interval. These observations suggest that the generation of circular products by intramolecular recombination involves Chi-dependent processing of one end by RecBCD and pairing of the processed end with its duplex homolog.

Development ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (14) ◽  
pp. dev190330
Author(s):  
Brett R. Lancaster ◽  
James D. McGhee

ABSTRACTWe define a quantitative relationship between the affinity with which the intestine-specific GATA factor ELT-2 binds to cis-acting regulatory motifs and the resulting transcription of asp-1, a target gene representative of genes involved in Caenorhabditis elegans intestine differentiation. By establishing an experimental system that allows unknown parameters (e.g. the influence of chromatin) to effectively cancel out, we show that levels of asp-1 transcripts increase monotonically with increasing binding affinity of ELT-2 to variant promoter TGATAA sites. The shape of the response curve reveals that the product of the unbound ELT-2 concentration in vivo [i.e. (ELT-2free) or ELT-2 ‘activity’] and the largest ELT-XXTGATAAXX association constant (Kmax) lies between five and ten. We suggest that this (unitless) product [Kmax×(ELT-2free) or the equivalent product for any other transcription factor] provides an important quantitative descriptor of transcription-factor/regulatory-motif interaction in development, evolution and genetic disease. A more complicated model than simple binding affinity is necessary to explain the fact that ELT-2 appears to discriminate in vivo against equal-affinity binding sites that contain AGATAA instead of TGATAA.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen M. Mundia ◽  
Alissa C. Magwood ◽  
Mark D. Baker

ABSTRACTIn this study, we utilized mouse hybridoma cell lines stably expressing ectopic wild-type Rad51, or the Rad51-K133A and Rad51-K133R catalytic mutants deficient in ATP binding and ATP hydrolysis, respectively, to investigate effects on the Rad51 nucleoprotein filament in vivo. Immunoprecipitation studies reveal interactions between ectopic wild-type Rad51, Rad51-K133A and Rad51-K133R and endogenous Rad51, Brca2 and p53 proteins. Importantly, the expression of Rad51-K133A and Rad51-K133R catalytic mutants (but not wild-type Rad51) targets endogenous Rad51, Brca2 and p53 proteins for proteasome-mediated degradation. Expression of Rad51-K133R significantly reduces nascent DNA synthesis (3’ polymerization) during homologous recombination (HR), but the effects of Rad51-K133A on 3’ polymerization are considerably more severe. Provision of additional wild-type Rad51 in cell lines expressing Rad51-K133A or Rad51-K133R does not restore diminished levels of endogenous Brca2, Rad51 or p53, nor restore the deficiency in 3’ polymerization. Cells expressing Rad51-K133A are also significantly reduced in their capacity to drive strand exchange through regions of heterology. Our results reveal an interesting mechanistic dichotomy in the way mutant Rad51-K133A and Rad51-K133R proteins influence 3’ polymerization and provide novel insight into the mechanism of their dominant-negative phenotypes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (10) ◽  
pp. 3010-3017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Cook ◽  
Carol A. Kumamoto

ABSTRACT SecB is a cytosolic protein required for rapid and efficient export of particular periplasmic and outer membrane proteins inEscherichia coli. SecB promotes export by stabilizing newly synthesized precursor proteins in a nonnative conformation and by targeting the precursors to the inner membrane. Biochemical studies suggest that SecB facilitates precursor targeting by binding to the SecA protein, a component of the membrane-embedded translocation apparatus. To gain more insight into the functional interaction of SecB and SecA, in vivo, mutations in the secA locus that compensate for the export defect caused by the secBmissense mutation secBL75Q were isolated. Two suppressors were isolated, both of which led to the overproduction of wild-type SecA protein. In vivo studies demonstrated that the SecBL75Q mutant protein releases precursor proteins at a lower rate than does wild-type SecB. Increasing the level of SecA protein in the cell was found to reverse this slow-release defect, indicating that overproduction of SecA stimulates the turnover of SecBL75Q-precursor complexes. These findings lend additional support to the proposed pathway for precursor targeting in which SecB promotes targeting to the translocation apparatus by binding to the SecA protein.


2012 ◽  
Vol 195-196 ◽  
pp. 407-411
Author(s):  
Mu Qing Qiu

In order to develop an efficient site-directed mutagenesis method in vivo, the tests were tested by the following methods. The methods that the fragment knockouted ompR gene was constructed through overlapping PCR, digested by Notand Sal, ligated to plasmid pKOV were applied. The recombination plasmid was transformed into Escherichia coli WMC-001 strain, integrated into the genomic DNA through two step homologous recombination. The Escherichia coli WMC-001/ompR-mutant was obtained due to gene replacement. The fragment of the mutant ompR gene was amplified through overlapping PCR, cloned into pKOV vector. The recombinant plasmid was introduced into Escherichia coli WMC-001/ompR-mutant. The Escherichia coli WMC-001/ompR mutant was also obtained due to gene replacement. Results: The site-directed mutagenesis has been successfully constructed in the ompR gene by sequencing. Conclusion: The method is effective for construction of gene site-directed mutagenesis in vivo.


2002 ◽  
Vol 227 (9) ◽  
pp. 709-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Hendry ◽  
Daniel M. Sheehan ◽  
Shafiq A. Khan ◽  
Jeffrey V. May

At the biomedical, regulatory, and public level, considerable concern surrounds the concept that inappropriate exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially during the prenatal and/or neonatal period, may disrupt normal reproductive tract development and adult function. The intent of this review was to 1. Describe some unique advantages of the hamster for perinatal endocrine disruptor (ED) studies, 2. Summarize the morphological and molecular consequences of exposure to the established perinatal ED, diethylstilbestrol, in the female and male hamster, 3. Present some new, histomorphological insight into the process of neonatal diethylstilbestrol-induced disruption in the hamster uterus, and 4. Introduce recent efforts and future plans to evaluate the potency and mechanism of action of other putative EDs in the hamster experimental system. Taken together, the findings indicate that the hamster represents a unique and sensitive in vivo system to probe the phenomenon of endocrine disruption. The spectrum of candidate endpoints includes developmental toxicity, neoplasia, and more subtle endpoints of reproductive dysfunction.


Genome ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Thaler ◽  
Elizabeth Sampson ◽  
Imran Siddiqi ◽  
Susan M. Rosenberg ◽  
Lynn C. Thomason ◽  
...  

RecBCD enzyme is centrally important in homologous recombination in Escherichia coli and is the source of ExoV activity. Null alleles of either the recB or the recC genes, which encode the B and C subunits, respectively, manifest no recombination and none of the nuclease functions characteristic of the holoenzyme. Loss of the D subunit, by a recD mutation, likewise results in loss of ExoV activity. However, mutants lacking the D subunit are competent for homologous recombination. We report that the distribution of exchanges along the chromosome of Red−Gam−phage λ is strikingly altered by recD null mutations in the host. When λ DNA replication is blocked, recombination in recD mutant strains is high near λ's right end. In contrast, recombination in isogenic recD+ strains is approximately uniform along λ unless the λ chromosome contains a χ sequence. Recombination in recD mutant strains is focused toward the site of action of a type II restriction enzyme acting in vivo on λ. The distribution of exchanges in isogenic recD+ strains is scarcely altered by the restriction enzyme (unless the phage contains an otherwise silent χ). The distribution of exchanges in recD mutants is strongly affected by λ DNA replication. The distribution of exchanges on λ growing in rec+ cells is not influenced by DNA replication. The exchange distribution along λ in recD mutant cells is independent of χ in a variety of conditions. Recombination in rec+ cells is χ influenced. Recombination in recD mutants depends on recC function, occurs in strains deleted for rac prophage, and is independent of recJ, which is known to be required for λ recombination via the RecF pathway. We entertain two models for recombination in recD mutants: (i) recombination in recD mutants may proceed via double-chain break–repair, as it does in λ's Red pathway and E. coli's RecE pathway; (ii) the RecBC enzyme, missing its D subunit, is equivalent to the wild-type, RecBCD, enzyme after that enzyme has been activated by a χ sequence.Key words: χ sequence, RecBCD pathway, Red pathway, RecBC‡ pathway.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben S Harris ◽  
Kimberly J Ross ◽  
Susan M Rosenberg

Abstract Aspects of the molecular mechanism of “adaptive” mutation are emerging from one experimental system: reversion of an Escherichia coli lac frameshift mutation carried on a conjugative plasmid. Homologous recombination is required and the mutations resemble polymerase errors. Reports implicating a role for conjugal transfer proteins suggested that the mutation mechanism is ordinary replication error occurring during transfer synthesis, followed by conjugation-like recombination, to capture the replicated fragment into an intact replicon. Whereas conjugational recombination uses either of two systems of Holliday junction resolution, we find that the adaptive lac reversions are inhibited by one resolution system and promoted by the other. Moreover, temporary absence of both resolution systems promotes mutation. These results imply that recombination intermediates themselves promote the mutations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (22) ◽  
pp. 7474-7480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Horikoshi ◽  
Takashi Yura ◽  
Sachie Tsuchimoto ◽  
Yoshihiro Fukumori ◽  
Masaaki Kanemori

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli heat shock transcription factor σ32 is rapidly degraded in vivo, with a half-life of about 1 min. A set of proteins that includes the DnaK chaperone team (DnaK, DnaJ, GrpE) and ATP-dependent proteases (FtsH, HslUV, etc.) are involved in degradation of σ32. To gain further insight into the regulation of σ32 stability, we isolated σ32 mutants that were markedly stabilized. Many of the mutants had amino acid substitutions in the N-terminal half (residues 47 to 55) of region 2.1, a region highly conserved among bacterial σ factors. The half-lives ranged from about 2-fold to more than 10-fold longer than that of the wild-type protein. Besides greater stability, the levels of heat shock proteins, such as DnaK and GroEL, increased in cells producing stable σ32. Detailed analysis showed that some stable σ32 mutants have higher transcriptional activity than the wild type. These results indicate that the N-terminal half of region 2.1 is required for modulating both metabolic stability and the activity of σ32. The evidence suggests that σ32 stabilization does not result from an elevated affinity for core RNA polymerase. Region 2.1 may, therefore, be involved in interactions with the proteolytic machinery, including molecular chaperones.


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