MARKER EFFECTS IN THE GENETIC TRANSDUCTION OF TRYPTOPHAN MUTANTS OF E. COLI

Genetics ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-439
Author(s):  
David Stadler ◽  
Beverly Kariya

ABSTRACT Recombination frequencies have been determined in crosses involving 28 mutant strains for 20 of which the site of the alteration is known from studies of amino-acid substitutions in the protein products. Three of these mutants showed especially high frequencies of recombination when crossed to other single mutants or when crossed to a strain carrying two alterations at opposite ends of the trpA gene. There is no obvious molecular explanation of the high recombination of these three mutants. They include one missense mutant, one amber and one ochre. The low-frequency recombination mutants include all these same classes as well as frameshift mutants. There is nothing unique about the intragenic location of the high-recombination mutants; in each case there is at least one low-recombination mutant in the same codon.—Crosses involving mutants which were isolated in an altered wild type have shown that the behavior of a high-recombination mutant does not result from its molecular configuration alone, but from its combination with the homologous wild-type sequence from the other parent.—Several lines of evidence indicate that recombination in this system frequently involves closely-spaced double exchanges (about 40 codons apart).

2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (10) ◽  
pp. 2850-2853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Conter ◽  
Rachel Sturny ◽  
Claude Gutierrez ◽  
Kaymeuang Cam

ABSTRACT The RcsCB His-Asp phosphorelay system regulates the expression of several genes of Escherichia coli, but the molecular nature of the inducing signal is still unknown. We show here that treatment of an exponentially growing culture of E. coli with the cationic amphipathic compound chlorpromazine (CPZ) stimulates expression of a set of genes positively regulated by the RcsCB system. This induction is abolished in rcsB or rcsC mutant strains. In addition, treatment with CPZ inhibits growth. The wild-type strain is able to recover from this inhibition and resume growth after a period of adaptation. In contrast, strains deficient in the RcsCB His-Asp phosphorelay system are hypersensitive to CPZ. These results suggest that cells must express specific RcsCB-regulated genes in order to cope with the CPZ-induced stress. This is the first report of the essential role of the RcsCB system in a stress situation. These results also strengthen the notion that alterations of the cell envelope induce a signal recognized by the RcsC sensor.


1979 ◽  
Vol 179 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Hillman

NAD+-specific glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.12) from Escherichia coli was purified to homogeneity by a relatively simple procedure involving affinity chromatography on agarose–hexane–NAD+ and repeated crystallization. Rabbit antiserum directed against this protein produced one precipitin line in double-diffusion studies against the pure enzyme, and two lines against crude extracts of wild-type E. coli strains. Both precipitin lines represent the interaction of antibody with determinants specific for glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Nine independent mutants of E. coli lacking glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity all possessed some antigenic cross-reacting material to the wild-type enzyme. The mutants could be divided into three groups on the basis of the types and amounts of precipitin lines observed in double-diffusion experiments; one group formed little cross-reacting material. The cross-reacting material in crude cell-free extracts of several of the mutant strains were also tested for alterations in their affinity for NAD+ and their phosphorylative activity. The cumulative data indicate that the protein in several of the mutant strains is severely altered, and thus that glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase is unlikely to have an essential, non-catalytic function such as buffering nicotinamide nucleotide or glycolytic-intermediate concentrations. Others of the mutants tested have cross-reacting material which behaved like the wild-type enzyme for the several parameters studied; the proteins from these strains, once purified, might serve as useful analogues of the wild-type enzyme.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (10) ◽  
pp. 3171-3175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Theisen ◽  
Gerben J. Zylstra ◽  
Nathan Yee

ABSTRACTThe genetic identity and cofactor composition of the bacterial tellurate reductase are currently unknown. In this study, we examined the requirement of molybdopterin biosynthesis and molybdate transporter genes for tellurate reduction inEscherichia coliK-12. The results show that mutants deleted of themoaA,moaB,moaE, ormoggene in the molybdopterin biosynthesis pathway lost the ability to reduce tellurate. Deletion of themodBormodCgene in the molybdate transport pathway also resulted in complete loss of tellurate reduction activity. Genetic complementation by the wild-type sequences restored tellurate reduction activity in the mutant strains. These findings provide genetic evidence that tellurate reduction inE. coliinvolves a molybdoenzyme.


2006 ◽  
Vol 290 (1) ◽  
pp. G30-G35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alip Borthakur ◽  
Ravinder K. Gill ◽  
Kim Hodges ◽  
Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy ◽  
Gail Hecht ◽  
...  

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), a food-borne human pathogen, is responsible for infantile diarrhea, especially in developing countries. The pathophysiology of EPEC-induced diarrhea, however, is not completely understood. Our recent studies showed modulation of Na+/H+and Cl−/HCO3−exchange activities in Caco-2 cells in response to EPEC infection. We hypothesized that intestinal short-chain fatty acid absorption mediated by monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) might also be altered by EPEC infection. The aim of the current studies was to examine the effect of EPEC infection on butyrate uptake. Caco-2 cells were infected with wild-type EPEC, various mutant strains, or nonpathogenic E. coli HS4, and [14C]butyrate uptake was determined. EPEC, but not nonpathogenic E. coli, significantly decreased butyrate uptake. Infection of cells with strains harboring mutations in escN, which encodes a putative ATPase for the EPEC type III secretion system (TTSS), or in the espA, espB, or espD genes encoding structural components of the TTSS, had no effect on butyrate uptake, indicating the TTSS dependence. On the other hand, strains with mutations in the effector protein genes espF, espG, espH, and map inhibited butyrate uptake, similar to the wild-type EPEC. Surface expression of MCT1 decreased considerably after EPEC but not after nonpathogenic E. coli infection. In conclusion, our studies demonstrate inhibition of MCT1-mediated butyrate uptake in Caco-2 cells in response to EPEC infection. This inhibition was dependent on a functional TTSS and the structural proteins EspA, -B, and -D of the translocation apparatus.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (14) ◽  
pp. 4318-4325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Ohara ◽  
Henry C. Wu ◽  
Krishnan Sankaran ◽  
Paul D. Rick

ABSTRACT We report here the identification of a new lipoprotein, NlpI, inEscherichia coli K-12. The NlpI structural gene (nlpI) is located between the genes pnp(polynucleotide phosphorylase) and deaD (RNA helicase) at 71 min on the E. coli chromosome. The nlpI gene encodes a putative polypeptide of approximately 34 kDa, and multiple lines of evidence clearly demonstrate that NlpI is indeed a lipoprotein. An nlpI::cm mutation rendered growth of the cells osmotically sensitive, and incubation of the insertion mutant at an elevated temperature resulted in the formation of filaments. The altered phenotype of the mutant was a direct consequence of the mutation in nlpI, since it was complemented by the wild-type nlpI gene alone. Overexpression of the unaltered nlpI gene in wild-type cells resulted in the loss of the rod morphology and the formation of single prolate ellipsoids and pairs of prolate ellipsoids joined by partial constrictions. NlpI may be important for an as-yet-undefined step in the overall process of cell division.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Becker ◽  
Alfred Pühler

ABSTRACT The production of the acidic exopolysaccharide succinoglycan (EPS I) by Rhizobium meliloti exoP* mutants expressing an ExoP protein lacking its C-terminal cytoplasmic domain and by mutants characterized by specific amino acid substitutions in the proline-rich motif (RX4PX2PX4SPKX9IXGXMXGXG) located from positions 443 to 476 of the ExoP protein was analyzed. The absence of the C-terminal cytoplasmic ExoP domain (positions 484 to 786) and the substitution of both arginine443 by isoleucine443 and proline457 by serine457 within the proline-rich motif resulted in enhanced production of low-molecular-weight (LMW) EPS I at the expense of high-molecular-weight (HMW) EPS I. The ratios of HMW to LMW EPS I of the wild type and mutant strains increased with osmolarity.


1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 170-175
Author(s):  
A. P. Singh ◽  
J. B. Singh

The synthesis of β-galactosidase in Rhizobium meliloti WU60 was found to be inducible by lactose and its non-metabolizable analogue. isopropyl-β-ᴅ-thiogalactoside (IPTG). In contrast to Escherichia coli, galactose and melibiose were very weak inducers of this enzyme in R. meliloti. The maximum level of β-galactosidase in this bacterium is 2% of that in fully induced E. coli. In addition to glucose, the induced synthesis of this enzyme in R. meliloti was repressed by galactose, glycerol, and succinate. In comparison to E. coli, addition of cyclic AMP to the growth medium of R. meliloti did not alleviate the repressive effect of the above compounds on β- galactosidase synthesis. High concentrations of sodium succinate (100 mᴍ) were inhibitory to the growth of R. meliloti. Spontaneous succinate-resistant mutants could be isolated at low frequency. In contrast to the wild type parent, in a succinate-resistant mutant, the synthesis of β-galactosidase was not repressed by succinate.


2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 1914-1920 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Yee ◽  
J. Ma ◽  
A. Dalia ◽  
T. Boonfueng ◽  
D. Y. Kobayashi

ABSTRACT The fate of selenium in the environment is controlled, in part, by microbial selenium oxyanion reduction and Se(0) precipitation. In this study, we identified a genetic regulator that controls selenate reductase activity in the Se-reducing bacterium Enterobacter cloacae SLD1a-1. Heterologous expression of the global anaerobic regulatory gene fnr (fumarate nitrate reduction regulator) from E. cloacae in the non-Se-reducing strain Escherichia coli S17-1 activated the ability to reduce Se(VI) and precipitate insoluble Se(0) particles. Se(VI) reduction by E. coli S17-1 containing the fnr gene occurred at rates similar to those for E. cloacae, with first-order reaction constants of k = 2.07 × 10−2 h−1 and k = 3.36 × 10−2 h−1, respectively, and produced elemental selenium particles with identical morphologies and short-range atomic orders. Mutation of the fnr gene in E. cloacae SLD1a-1 resulted in derivative strains that were deficient in selenate reductase activity and unable to precipitate elemental selenium. Complementation by the wild-type fnr sequence restored the ability of mutant strains to reduce Se(VI). Our findings suggest that Se(VI) reduction and the precipitation of Se(0) by facultative anaerobes are regulated by oxygen-sensing transcription factors and occur under suboxic conditions.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (18) ◽  
pp. 5139-5146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne W. Poon ◽  
Diana E. Davis ◽  
Huan T. Ha ◽  
Tanya Jonassen ◽  
Philip N. Rather ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT It was recently discovered that the aarF gene inProvidencia stuartii is required for coenzyme Q (CoQ) biosynthesis. Here we report that yigR, theEscherichia coli homologue of aarF, isubiB, a gene required for the first monooxygenase step in CoQ biosynthesis. Both the P. stuartii aarF and E. coli ubiB (yigR) disruption mutant strains lack CoQ and accumulate octaprenylphenol. Octaprenylphenol is the CoQ biosynthetic intermediate found to accumulate in the E. coli strain AN59, which contains the ubiB409 mutant allele. Analysis of the mutation in the E. coli strain AN59 reveals no mutations within the ubiB gene, but instead shows the presence of an IS1 element at position +516 of the ubiE gene. The ubiE gene encodes aC-methyltransferase required for the synthesis of both CoQ and menaquinone, and it is the 5′ gene in an operon containingubiE, yigP, and ubiB. The data indicate that octaprenylphenol accumulates in AN59 as a result of a polar effect of the ubiE::IS1mutation on the downstream ubiB gene. AN59 is complemented by a DNA segment containing the contiguous ubiE,yigP, and ubiB genes. Although transformation of AN59 with a DNA segment containing the ubiB coding region fails to restore CoQ biosynthesis, transformation with theubiE coding region results in a low-frequency but significant rescue attributed to homologous recombination. In addition, the fre gene, previously considered to correspond toubiB, was found not to be involved in CoQ biosynthesis. TheubiB gene is a member of a predicted protein kinase family of which the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ABC1 gene is the prototypic member. The possible protein kinase function of UbiB and Abc1 and the role these polypeptides may play in CoQ biosynthesis are discussed.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (12) ◽  
pp. 3524-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bokkee Min ◽  
Makoto Kitabatake ◽  
Carla Polycarpo ◽  
Joanne Pelaschier ◽  
Gregory Raczniak ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Two types of aspartyl-tRNA synthetase exist: the discriminating enzyme (D-AspRS) forms only Asp-tRNAAsp, while the nondiscriminating one (ND-AspRS) also synthesizes Asp-tRNAAsn, a required intermediate in protein synthesis in many organisms (but not in Escherichia coli). On the basis of the E. coli trpA34 missense mutant transformed with heterologous ND-aspS genes, we developed a system with which to measure the in vivo formation of Asp-tRNAAsn and its acceptance by elongation factor EF-Tu. While large amounts of Asp-tRNAAsn are detrimental to E. coli, smaller amounts support protein synthesis and allow the formation of up to 38% of the wild-type level of missense-suppressed tryptophan synthetase.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document