scholarly journals The tra Region of the Conjugative Plasmid pIP501 Is Organized in an Operon with the First Gene Encoding the Relaxase

2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (6) ◽  
pp. 1801-1805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitta Kurenbach ◽  
Dagmar Grothe ◽  
María Eugenia Farías ◽  
Ulrich Szewzyk ◽  
Elisabeth Grohmann

ABSTRACT The tra genes orf1 to orf11 of pIP501 were shown to be transcribed as a single operon of 11.3 kb in Enterococcus faecalis by reverse transcription-PCR. The transcriptional start site of the tra mRNA was mapped at 110 bp upstream from the predicted TTG start codon of the first gene of the operon, the traA relaxase. The TraA protein (660 amino acids) and a C-terminally truncated version of the TraA protein (293 amino acids) were purified as fusions with glutathione S-transferase. oriT cleavage activity of both TraA proteins was demonstrated in vitro on supercoiled plasmid pVA2241 DNA containing oriTpIP501 . The activity of the DNA relaxase TraA is strictly dependent on the presence of Mg2+ or Mn2+ and is highest at temperatures of between 42 and 45°C.

1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (3) ◽  
pp. 849-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Aneja ◽  
T. C. Charles

ABSTRACT We have cloned and sequenced the 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase-encoding gene (bdhA) from Rhizobium (Sinorhizobium) meliloti. The gene has an open reading frame of 777 bp that encodes a polypeptide of 258 amino acid residues (molecular weight 27,177, pI 6.07). The R. meliloti Bdh protein exhibits features common to members of the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase superfamily. bdhA is the first gene transcribed in an operon that also includes xdhA, encoding xanthine oxidase/dehydrogenase. Transcriptional start site analysis by primer extension identified two transcription starts. S1, a minor start site, was located 46 to 47 nucleotides upstream of the predicted ATG start codon, while S2, the major start site, was mapped 148 nucleotides from the start codon. Analysis of the sequence immediately upstream of either S1 or S2 failed to reveal the presence of any known consensus promoter sequences. Although a ς54 consensus sequence was identified in the region between S1 and S2, a corresponding transcript was not detected, and a rpoN mutant of R. meliloti was able to utilize 3-hydroxybutyrate as a sole carbon source. The R. meliloti bdhA gene is able to confer uponEscherichia coli the ability to utilize 3-hydroxybutyrate as a sole carbon source. An R. meliloti bdhA mutant accumulates poly-3-hydroxybutyrate to the same extent as the wild type and shows no symbiotic defects. Studies with a strain carrying alacZ transcriptional fusion to bdhAdemonstrated that gene expression is growth phase associated.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (9) ◽  
pp. 3062-3070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calin B. Chiribau ◽  
Cristinel Sandu ◽  
Gabor L. Igloi ◽  
Roderich Brandsch

ABSTRACT Nicotine catabolism by Arthrobacter nicotinovorans is linked to the presence of the megaplasmid pAO1. Genes involved in this catabolic pathway are arranged on the plasmid into gene modules according to function. During nicotine degradation γ-N-methylaminobutyrate is formed from the pyrrolidine ring of nicotine. Analysis of the pAO1 open reading frames (ORF) resulted in identification of the gene encoding a demethylating γ-N-methylaminobutyrate oxidase (mabO). This gene was shown to form an operon with purU- and folD-like genes. Only in bacteria grown in the presence of nicotine could transcripts of the purU-mabO-folD operon be detected, demonstrating that this operon constitutes part of the pAO1 nicotine regulon. Its transcriptional start site was determined by primer extension analysis. Transcription of the operon was shown to be controlled by a new transcriptional regulator, PmfR, the product of a gene that is transcribed divergently from the purU, mabO, and folD genes. PmfR was purified, and electromobility shift assays and DNase I-nuclease digestion experiments were used to determine that its DNA binding site is located between −48 and −88 nucleotides upstream of the transcriptional start site of the operon. Disruption of pmfR by homologous recombination with a chloramphenicol resistance cassette demonstrated that PmfR acts in vivo as a transcriptional activator. Mutagenesis of the PmfR target DNA suggested that the sequence GTTT-14 bp-AAAC is the core binding site of the regulator upstream of the −35 promoter region of the purU-mabO-folD operon.


2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (13) ◽  
pp. 3767-3774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Sook Hahn ◽  
So-Young Oh ◽  
Jung-Hye Roe

ABSTRACT We isolated the catC gene, encoding catalase-peroxidase in Streptomyces coelicolor, using sequence homology with the katG gene from Escherichia coli. Upstream of the catC gene, an open reading frame (furA) encoding a homologue of ferric uptake regulator (Fur) was identified. S1 mapping analysis indicated that the furA gene was cotranscribed with the catC gene. The transcriptional start site of the furA-catC mRNA was mapped to the translation start codon ATG of the furA gene. The putative promoter contains consensus −10 and −35 elements similar to those recognized by ςHrdB, the major sigma factor of S. coelicolor. The transcripts were produced maximally at late-exponential phase and decreased at the stationary phase in liquid culture. The change in the amount of mRNA was consistent with that of CatC protein and enzyme activity. When the furA gene was introduced into S. lividans on a multicopy plasmid, the increased production of catC transcripts and protein product at late growth phase was inhibited, implying a role for FurA as the negative regulator of the furA-catC operon. FurA protein bound to its own promoter region between −59 and −39 nucleotides from the transcription start site. The binding affinity of FurA increased under reducing conditions and in the presence of metals such as Ni2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, or Fe2+. Addition of these metals to the growth medium decreased the production of CatC protein, consistent with the role of FurA as a metal-dependent repressor.


1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
J B Lorens ◽  
A H Nerland ◽  
R Aasland ◽  
I Lossius ◽  
R Male

ABSTRACT Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) possess two genes encoding GH. We have investigated the expression of these two genes in the salmon pituitary. The transcriptional start site was localized 64 nucleotides upstream of the first methionyl codon using primer extension and 5′ specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Northern analysis revealed a major Atlantic salmon GH (salGH) transcript band of approximately 1400 nucleotides. As coexpression of the salGH genes is not discernible by transcript length, other techniques were used to assess gene activity; RNase protection analysis revealed GH transcript heterogeneity, while reverse transcription-PCR assays detected transcripts from both genes at approximately equivalent amounts. The encoded salGH protein, generated in vitro and by Escherichia coli, shares electrophoretic and immunoreactive identity with native pituitary salGH.


2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 2742-2749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideo Yonezawa ◽  
Howard K. Kuramitsu ◽  
Shu-ichi Nakayama ◽  
Jiro Mitobe ◽  
Mizuho Motegi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The two-component lantibiotic Smb is produced by Streptococcus mutans GS5. In the present study, we identified seven strains of S. mutans containing the smb gene cluster. These strains could be classified into high- and low-level Smb producers relative to the levels of Smb production by indicator strains in vitro. This classification was dependent upon the transcription levels of the structural smbA and smbB genes. Sequence analysis upstream of smbA in the high- and low-level Smb-producing strains revealed differences at nucleotide position −46 relative to the smbA start codon. Interestingly, the transcription start site was present upstream of the point mutation, indicating that both groups of strains have the same promoter constructs and that the differential expression of smbA and smbB mRNA occurred subsequent to transcription initiation. In addition, smbA::lacZ fusion expression was higher when it was regulated by the sequences of strains with high-level Smb activity than when it was regulated by the comparable region from strains with low-level Smb activity. Taken together, we conclude that high- or low-level Smb expression is dependent on the presence of a G or a T nucleotide at position −46 relative to the smbA translational start site in S. mutans Smb producers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 191 (3) ◽  
pp. 882-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeliki Marietou ◽  
Lesley Griffiths ◽  
Jeff Cole

ABSTRACT Desulfovibrio desulfuricans strain 27774 is one of a relative small group of sulfate-reducing bacteria that can also grow with nitrate as an alternative electron acceptor, but how nitrate reduction is regulated in any sulfate-reducing bacterium is controversial. Strain 27774 grew more rapidly and to higher yields of biomass with nitrate than with sulfate or nitrite as the only electron acceptor. In the presence of both sulfate and nitrate, sulfate was used preferentially, even when cultures were continuously gassed with nitrogen and carbon dioxide to prevent sulfide inhibition of nitrate reduction. The napC transcription start site was identified 112 bases upstream of the first base of the translation start codon. Transcripts initiated at the napC promoter that were extended across the napM-napA boundary were detected by reverse transcription-PCR, confirming that the six nap genes can be cotranscribed as a single operon. Real-time PCR experiments confirmed that nap operon expression is regulated at the level of mRNA transcription by at least two mechanisms: nitrate induction and sulfate repression. We speculate that three almost perfect inverted-repeat sequences located upstream of the transcription start site might be binding sites for one or more proteins of the CRP/FNR family of transcription factors that mediate nitrate induction and sulfate repression of nitrate reduction by D. desulfuricans.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (24) ◽  
pp. 7571-7579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Membrillo-Hernández ◽  
E. C. C. Lin

ABSTRACT The adhE gene of Escherichia coli, located at min 27 on the chromosome, encodes the bifunctional NAD-linked oxidoreductase responsible for the conversion of acetyl-coenzyme A to ethanol during fermentative growth. The expression of adhEis dependent on both transcriptional and posttranscriptional controls and is about 10-fold higher during anaerobic than during aerobic growth. Two putative transcriptional start sites have been reported: one at position −292 and the other at −188 from the translational start codon ATG. In this study we show, by using several different transcriptional and translational fusions to the lacZ gene, that both putative transcriptional start sites can be functional and each site can be redox regulated. Although both start sites are NarL repressible in the presence of nitrate, Fnr activates only the −188 start site and Fis is required for the transcription of only the −292 start site. In addition, it was discovered that RpoS activatesadhE transcription at both start sites. Under all experimental conditions tested, however, only the upstream start site is active. Available evidence indicates that under those conditions, the upstream promoter region acts as a silencer of the downstream transcriptional start site. Translation of the mRNA starting at −292, but not the one starting at −188, requires RNase III. The results support the previously postulated ribosomal binding site (RBS) occlusion model, according to which RNase III cleavage is required to release the RBS from a stem-loop structure in the long transcript.


1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Casin ◽  
Florence Bordon ◽  
Philippe Bertin ◽  
Anne Coutrot ◽  
Isabelle Podglajen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Three clinical isolates, Enterobacter cloacae EC1562 and EC1563 and Citrobacter freundii CFr564, displayed an aminoglycoside resistance profile evocative of low-level 6′-N acetyltransferase type II [AAC(6′)-II] production, which conferred reduced susceptibility to gentamicin but not to amikacin or isepamicin. Aminoglycoside acetyltransferase assays suggested the synthesis in the three strains of an AAC(6′) which acetylated amikacin practically as well as it acetylated gentamicin in vitro. Both compounds, however, as well as isepamicin, retained good bactericidal activity against the three strains. The aacgenes were borne by conjugative plasmids (pLMM562 and pLMM564 of ca. 100 kb and pLMM563 of ca. 20 kb). By PCR mapping and nucleotide sequence analysis, an aac(6′)-Ib gene was found in each strain upstream of an ant(3")-I gene in asulI-type integron. The size of the AAC(6′)-Ib variant encoded by pLMM562 and pLMM564, AAC(6′)-Ib7, was deduced to be 184 (or 177) amino acids long, whereas in pLMM563 a 21-bp duplication allowing the recruitment of a start codon resulted in the translation of a variant, AAC(6′)-Ib8, of 196 amino acids, in agreement with size estimates obtained by Western blot analysis. Both variants had at position 119 a serine instead of the leucine typical for the AAC(6′)-Ib variants conferring resistance to amikacin. By using methods that predict the secondary structure, these two amino acids appear to condition an α-helical structure within a putative aminoglycoside binding domain of AAC(6′)-Ib variants.


1997 ◽  
Vol 328 (2) ◽  
pp. 453-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques GROBER ◽  
Henrik LAURELL ◽  
Régis BLAISE ◽  
Béatrice FABRY ◽  
Stéphane SCHAAK ◽  
...  

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) catalyses the rate-limiting step of adipose tissue lipolysis. The human HSL gene is composed of nine exons encoding the adipocyte form and a testis-specific coding exon. Northern blot analyses showed that human adipocytes express a 2.8 kb HSL mRNA, suggesting the presence of a short (20-150 bp) 5ʹ untranslated region (5ʹ-UTR). A single 5ʹ-UTR of approx. 70 nt was detected in RNase H mapping experiments. Two 5ʹ-UTRs of 70 and 170 nt respectively were obtained by rapid amplification of cDNA ends and cDNA library screenings. RNase protection experiments, with probes derived from the two products, showed that human adipocyte HSL mRNA contains only the 70 nt product. Primer extension analysis mapped the transcriptional start site 74 nt upstream of the start codon. In HT29, a human cell line expressing HSL, the presence of the short or the long 5ʹ-UTR is mutually exclusive. The short and long 5ʹ-UTR exons were located 1.5 and approx. 13 kb respectively upstream of the first coding exon. Various portions of the 5ʹ-flanking region upstream of the short product exon were linked to the luciferase gene and transfected into cells that express HSL (HT29 cells and rat adipocytes) and do not express HSL (HeLa cells). High luciferase activity was found for constructs containing the sequence between nt -2400 and -86, but not for shorter constructs. An analysis of 14 kb of genomic sequence revealed the presence of five DNase I hypersensitive sites associated with active gene transcription. Three of the sites are located in the vicinity of the transcriptional start site and could be linked to the minimal promoter activity. Two of the sites are located downstream of the exon containing the start codon, suggesting the presence of intronic regulatory elements.


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