scholarly journals Genetic Analysis of an Incomplete mutSGene from Pseudomonas putida

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (18) ◽  
pp. 5278-5279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasurou Kurusu ◽  
Tomoaki Narita ◽  
Makoto Suzuki ◽  
Taeko Watanabe

ABSTRACT We genetically characterized the Pseudomonas putida mutS gene and found that it encodes a smaller MutS protein than do the genes of other bacteria. This gene is able to function in themutS mutants of Escherichia coli andBacillus subtilis. A P. putida mutS mutant has a mutation frequency 1,000-fold greater than that of the wild-type strain.

2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (17) ◽  
pp. 5187-5197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Sperandio ◽  
Alfredo G. Torres ◽  
Jorge A. Girón ◽  
James B. Kaper

ABSTRACT Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is responsible for outbreaks of bloody diarrhea and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in many countries. EHEC virulence mechanisms include the production of Shiga toxins (Stx) and formation of attaching and effacing (AE) lesions on intestinal epithelial cells. We recently reported that genes involved in the formation of the AE lesion were regulated by quorum sensing through autoinducer-2, which is synthesized by the product of the luxS gene. In this study we hybridized an E. coli gene array with cDNA synthesized from RNA that was extracted from EHEC strain 86-24 and its isogenicluxS mutant. We observed that 404 genes were regulated by luxS at least fivefold, which comprises approximately 10% of the array genes; 235 of these genes were up-regulated and 169 were down-regulated in the wild-type strain compared to in theluxS mutant. Down-regulated genes included several involved in cell division, as well as ribosomal and tRNA genes. Consistent with this pattern of gene expression, theluxS mutant grows faster than the wild-type strain (generation times of 37.5 and 60 min, respectively, in Dulbecco modified Eagle medium). Up-regulated genes included several involved in the expression and assembly of flagella, motility, and chemotaxis. Using operon::lacZ fusions to class I, II, and III flagellar genes, we were able to confirm this transcriptional regulation. We also observed fewer flagella by Western blotting and electron microscopy and decreased motility halos in semisolid agar in the luxS mutant. The average swimming speeds for the wild-type strain and the luxS mutant are 12.5 and 6.6 μm/s, respectively. We also observed an increase in the production of Stx due to quorum sensing. Genes encoding Stx, which are transcribed along with λ-like phage genes, are induced by an SOS response, and genes involved in the SOS response were also regulated by quorum sensing. These results indicate that quorum sensing is a global regulatory mechanism for basic physiological functions of E. coli as well as for virulence factors.


1985 ◽  
Vol 229 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Okada ◽  
S Natori

When Escherichia coli was treated with sarcotoxin I, a potent bactericidal protein of Sarcophaga peregrina (fleshfly), K+ inside of the cells leaked out rapidly and the ATP pool of the cells rapidly decreased. These results suggested that the bactericidal effect of sarcotoxin I was due to its ionophore activity, and that it blocked the generation of ATP by inhibiting formation of the proton gradient essential for oxidative phosphorylation. This was confirmed by use of an uncA mutant, which was much less susceptible than the wild-type strain to sarcotoxin I under fixed ionic conditions.


2002 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 4107-4110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomohiro Morohoshi ◽  
Tatsuya Maruo ◽  
Yoko Shirai ◽  
Junichi Kato ◽  
Tsukasa Ikeda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The biological process for phosphate (Pi) removal is based on the use of bacteria capable of accumulating inorganic polyphosphate (polyP). We obtained Escherichia coli mutants which accumulate a large amount of polyP. The polyP accumulation in these mutants was ascribed to a mutation of the phoU gene that encodes a negative regulator of the Pi regulon. Insertional inactivation of the phoU gene also elevated the intracellular level of polyP in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803. The mutant could remove fourfold more Pi from the medium than the wild-type strain removed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (9) ◽  
pp. 3472-3478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiqing Sheng ◽  
Y. N. Nguyen ◽  
Carolyn J. Hovde ◽  
Vanessa Sperandio

ABSTRACTEnterohemorrhagicEscherichia coli(EHEC) causes hemorrhagic colitis and life-threatening complications. The main reservoirs for EHEC are healthy ruminants. We reported that SdiA senses acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) in the bovine rumen to activate expression of the glutamate acid resistance (gad) genes priming EHEC's acid resistance before they pass into the acidic abomasum. Conversely, SdiA represses expression of the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) genes, whose expression is not required for bacterial survival in the rumen but is necessary for efficient colonization at the rectoanal junction (RAJ) mucosa. Our previous studies show that SdiA-dependent regulation was necessary for efficient EHEC colonization of cattle fed a grain diet. Here, we compared the SdiA role in EHEC colonization of cattle fed a forage hay diet. We detected AHLs in the rumen of cattle fed a hay diet, and these AHLs activatedgadgene expression in an SdiA-dependent manner. The rumen fluid and fecal samples from hay-fed cattle were near neutrality, while the same digesta samples from grain-fed animals were acidic. Cattle fed either grain or hay and challenged with EHEC orally carried the bacteria similarly. EHEC was cleared from the rumen within days and from the RAJ mucosa after approximately one month. In competition trials, where animals were challenged with both wild-type and SdiA deletion mutant bacteria, diet did not affect the outcome that the wild-type strain was better able to persist and colonize. However, the wild-type strain had a greater advantage over the SdiA deletion mutant at the RAJ mucosa among cattle fed the grain diet.


Genetics ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-123
Author(s):  
James H Morrissey ◽  
Steven Wheeler ◽  
William F Loomis

ABSTRACT Seventeen independently isolated pigmentless (white) mutations in Dictyostelium discoideum are all recessive and fall into three complementation groups identifying two new whi loci in addition to the previously characterized whiA locus. whiB and whiC map to linkage groups III and IV, respectively. In addition, it was discovered that our laboratory stock of NC4, the wild-type strain from which these mutants were derived, has spontaneously lost the ability to grow on Bacillus subtilis. This new mutation, bsgB500, maps to linkage group VII and is not allelic to bsgA. bsgB500 is the first spontaneously derived mutation in D. discoideum that can be used to select heterozygous diploids, and for the first time allows genetic analysis to be routinely performed on strains derived from an unmutagenized background.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 1444
Author(s):  
Mitzi de la Cruz ◽  
Elisa A. Ramírez ◽  
Juan-Carlos Sigala ◽  
José Utrilla ◽  
Alvaro R. Lara

The design of optimal cell factories requires engineering resource allocation for maximizing product synthesis. A recently developed method to maximize the saving in cell resources released 0.5% of the proteome of Escherichia coli by deleting only three transcription factors. We assessed the capacity for plasmid DNA (pDNA) production in the proteome-reduced strain in a mineral medium, lysogeny, and terrific broths. In all three cases, the pDNA yield from biomass was between 33 and 53% higher in the proteome-reduced than in its wild type strain. When cultured in fed-batch mode in shake-flask, the proteome-reduced strain produced 74.8 mg L−1 pDNA, which was four times greater than its wild-type strain. Nevertheless, the pDNA supercoiled fraction was less than 60% in all cases. Deletion of recA increased the pDNA yields in the wild type, but not in the proteome-reduced strain. Furthermore, recA mutants produced a higher fraction of supercoiled pDNA, compared to their parents. These results show that the novel proteome reduction approach is a promising starting point for the design of improved pDNA production hosts.


mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kampf ◽  
Jan Gerwig ◽  
Kerstin Kruse ◽  
Robert Cleverley ◽  
Miriam Dormeyer ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis requires the expression of genes encoding enzymes for extracellular polysaccharide synthesis and for an amyloid-like protein. The master regulator SinR represses all the corresponding genes, and repression of these key biofilm genes is lifted when SinR interacts with its cognate antagonist proteins. The YmdB phosphodiesterase is a recently discovered factor that is involved in the control of SinR activity: cells lacking YmdB exhibit hyperactive SinR and are unable to relieve the repression of the biofilm genes. In this study, we have examined the dynamics of gene expression patterns in wild-type and ymdB mutant cells by microfluidic analysis coupled to time-lapse microscopy. Our results confirm the bistable expression pattern for motility and biofilm genes in the wild-type strain and the loss of biofilm gene expression in the mutant. Moreover, we demonstrated dynamic behavior in subpopulations of the wild-type strain that is characterized by switches in sets of the expressed genes. In order to gain further insights into the role of YmdB, we isolated a set of spontaneous suppressor mutants derived from ymdB mutants that had regained the ability to form complex colonies and biofilms. Interestingly, all of the mutations affected SinR. In some mutants, large genomic regions encompassing sinR were deleted, whereas others had alleles encoding SinR variants. Functional and biochemical studies with these SinR variants revealed how these proteins allowed biofilm gene expression in the ymdB mutant strains. IMPORTANCE Many bacteria are able to choose between two mutually exclusive lifestyles: biofilm formation and motility. In the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis, this choice is made by each individual cell rather than at the population level. The transcriptional repressor SinR is the master regulator in this decision-making process. The regulation of SinR activity involves complex control of its own expression and of its interaction with antagonist proteins. We show that the YmdB phosphodiesterase is required to allow the expression of SinR-repressed genes in a subpopulation of cells and that such subpopulations can switch between different SinR activity states. Suppressor analyses revealed that ymdB mutants readily acquire mutations affecting SinR, thus restoring biofilm formation. These findings suggest that B. subtilis cells experience selective pressure to form the extracellular matrix that is characteristic of biofilms and that YmdB is required for the homeostasis of SinR and/or its antagonists.


1974 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan L. Betz ◽  
Jane E. Brown ◽  
Patricia H. Clarke ◽  
Martin Day

SUMMARYMutants ofPseudomonas aeruginosa, which differed in amide growth phenotype from the wild-type strain, were subjected to genetic analysis using the generalized transducing phage F116. The map order of some mutational sites was determined by 3-factor crosses in which a mutation in the linked regulator geneamiRwas used as the outside marker to determine the relative order of mutations in the amidase structural geneamiE. Acetamide-positive transductants were recovered in crosses between amidase-negative strains and strains PhB3(PAC377), V2(PAC353) and V5(PAC356) producing mutant amidases which hydrolyse phenylacetamide and valeramide but not acetamide. Some recombinants carried the mutationamiE16 determining the properties of the mutant B amidase produced by strain B6(PAC351) from which both PhB and V class mutants were derived, while other recombinants produced A amidase determined by the wild-typeamiEgene.


1999 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 3100-3107 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guillouet ◽  
A. A. Rodal ◽  
G.-H. An ◽  
P. A. Lessard ◽  
A. J. Sinskey

ABSTRACT The catabolic or biodegradative threonine dehydratase (E.C. 4.2.1.16) of Escherichia coli is an isoleucine feedback-resistant enzyme that catalyzes the degradation of threonine to α-ketobutyrate, the first reaction of the isoleucine pathway. We cloned and expressed this enzyme in Corynebacterium glutamicum. We found that while the native threonine dehydratase of C. glutamicum was totally inhibited by 15 mM isoleucine, the heterologous catabolic threonine dehydratase expressed in the same strain was much less sensitive to isoleucine; i.e., it retained 60% of its original activity even in the presence of 200 mM isoleucine. To determine whether expressing the catabolic threonine dehydratase (encoded by the tdcB gene) provided any benefit for isoleucine production compared to the native enzyme (encoded by theilvA gene), fermentations were performed with the wild-type strain, an ilvA-overexpressing strain, and atdcB-expressing strain. By expressing the heterologous catabolic threonine dehydratase in C. glutamicum, we were able to increase the production of isoleucine 50-fold, whereas overexpression of the native threonine dehydratase resulted in only a fourfold increase in isoleucine production. Carbon balance data showed that when just one enzyme, the catabolic threonine dehydratase, was overexpressed, 70% of the carbon available for the lysine pathway was redirected into the isoleucine pathway.


2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Yao ◽  
Pei Zhou ◽  
Chengjin Wu ◽  
Liming Liu ◽  
Jing Wu

ABSTRACT In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Y family DNA polymerase Rev1 is involved in the repair of DNA damage by translesion DNA synthesis (TLS). In the current study, to elucidate the role of Rev1 in oxidative stress-induced DNA damage in S. cerevisiae, REV1 was deleted and overexpressed; transcriptome analysis of these mutants along with the wild-type strain was performed to screen potential genes that could be associated with REV1 during response to DNA damage. When the yeast cells were treated with 2 mM H2O2, the deletion of REV1 resulted in a 1.5- and 2.8-fold decrease in the survival rate and mutation frequency, respectively, whereas overexpression of REV1 increased the survival rate and mutation frequency by 1.1- and 2.9-fold, respectively, compared to the survival rate and mutation frequency of the wild-type strain. Transcriptome and phenotypic analyses identified that Sml1 aggravated oxidative stress in the yeast cells by inhibiting the activity of Rev1. This inhibition was due to the physical interaction between the BRCA1 C terminus (BRCT) domain of Rev1 and amino acid residues 36 to 70 of Sml1; the cell survival rate and mutation frequency increased by 1.8- and 3.1-fold, respectively, when this interaction was blocked. We also found that Sml1 inhibited Rev1 phosphorylation under oxidative stress and that deletion of SML1 increased the phosphorylation of Rev1 by 46%, whereas overexpression of SML1 reduced phosphorylation of Rev1. Overall, these findings demonstrate that Sml1 could be a novel regulator that mediates Rev1 dephosphorylation to inhibit its activity during oxidative stress. IMPORTANCE Rev1 was critical for cell growth in S. cerevisiae, and the deletion of REV1 caused a severe growth defect in cells exposed to oxidative stress (2 mM H2O2). Furthermore, we found that Sml1 physically interacted with Rev1 and inhibited Rev1 phosphorylation, thereby inhibiting Rev1 DNA antioxidant activity. These findings indicate that Sml1 could be a novel regulator for Rev1 in response to DNA damage by oxidative stress.


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