scholarly journals Identification of a Novel Membrane-Associated Gene Product That Suppresses Toxicity of a TrfA Peptide from Plasmid RK2 and Its Relationship to the DnaA Host Initiation Protein

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (6) ◽  
pp. 1817-1824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Kim ◽  
Trevor Banack ◽  
Daniel M. Lerman ◽  
Jeremiah C. Tracy ◽  
Johanna Eltz Camara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Fraction ◽  
Soluble Fraction ◽  
Host Protein ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Terminal Portion ◽  
Inner Membrane ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Amino Terminal ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

ABSTRACT The toxicity of a peptide derived from the amino-terminal portion of 33-kDa TrfA, one of the initiation proteins encoded by the broad-host-range plasmid RK2, was suppressed by a host protein related to DnaA, the initiation protein of Escherichia coli. The newly identified 28.4-kDa protein, termed a DnaA paralog (Dp) because it is similar to a region of DnaA but likely has a different function in initiation of plasmid RK2 replication, interacts physically with the 33-kDa TrfA initiation protein, including the initiation-active monomeric form. The Dp has a cellular distribution similar to that of the 33-kDa TrfA initiation protein, being found primarily in the inner membrane fraction, with lesser amounts detected in the outer membrane fraction and almost none in the soluble fraction of E. coli. Maintenance and inner membrane-associated replication of plasmid RK2 were enhanced in a Dp knockout strain and inhibited in strains containing extra copies of the Dp gene or in membrane extracts to which a tagged form of Dp was added. Recently, the Dp was independently shown to help prevent overinitiation in E. coli and was termed Hda (S. Kato and T. Katayama, EMBO J. 20:4253-4262, 2001).

scholarly journals Role of the parCBA Operon of the Broad-Host-Range Plasmid RK2 in Stable Plasmid Maintenance

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (22) ◽  
pp. 6023-6030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla L. Easter ◽  
Helmut Schwab ◽  
Donald R. Helinski
Keyword(s):  
Host Range ◽  
Plasmid Stability ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Resolution System ◽  
Stable Maintenance ◽  
Plasmid Stabilization ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

ABSTRACT The par region of the stably maintained broad-host-range plasmid RK2 is organized as two divergent operons,parCBA and parDE, and a cis-acting site. parDE encodes a postsegregational killing system, andparCBA encodes a resolvase (ParA), a nuclease (ParB), and a protein of unknown function (ParC). The present study was undertaken to further delineate the role of the parCBA region in the stable maintenance of RK2 by first introducing precise deletions in the three genes and then assessing the abilities of the different constructs to stabilize RK2 in three strains of Escherichia coli and two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The intact parCBA operon was effective in stabilizing a conjugation-defective RK2 derivative in E. coli MC1061K and RR1 but was relatively ineffective in E. coli MV10Δlac. In the two strains in which the parCBA operon was effective, deletions in parB, parC, or bothparB and parC caused an approximately twofold reduction in the stabilizing ability of the operon, while a deletion in the parA gene resulted in a much greater loss ofparCBA activity. For P. aeruginosaPAO1161Rifr, the parCBA operon provided little if any plasmid stability, but for P. aeruginosaPAC452Rifr, the RK2 plasmid was stabilized to a substantial extent by parCBA. With this latter strain, parAand res alone were sufficient for stabilization. Thecer resolvase system of plasmid ColE1 and theloxP/Cre system of plasmid P1 were tested in comparison with the parCBA operon. We found that, not unlike what was previously observed with MC1061K, cer failed to stabilize the RK2 plasmid with par deletions in strain MV10Δlac, but this multimer resolution system was effective in stabilizing the plasmid in strain RR1. The loxP/Cre system, on the other hand, was very effective in stabilizing the plasmid in all threeE. coli strains. These observations indicate that theparA gene, along with its res site, exhibits a significant level of plasmid stabilization in the absence of theparC and parB genes but that in at least oneE. coli strain, all three genes are required for maximum stabilization. It cannot be determined from these results whether or not the stabilization effects seen with parCBA or thecer and loxP/Cre systems are strictly due to a reduction in the level of RK2 dimers and an increase in the number of plasmid monomer units or if these systems play a role in a more complex process of plasmid stabilization that requires as an essential step the resolution of plasmid dimers.

scholarly journals TrfA-Dependent Inner Membrane-Associated Plasmid RK2 DNA Synthesis and Association of TrfA with Membranes of Different Gram-Negative Hosts

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (16) ◽  
pp. 4380-4383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Banack ◽  
Peter D. Kim ◽  
William Firshein
Keyword(s):  
Dna Synthesis ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Plasmid Dna ◽  
Membrane Fraction ◽  
Chain Extension ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Inner Membrane ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Representative Species ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

ABSTRACT TrfA, the replication initiator protein of broad-host-range plasmid RK2, was tested for its ability to bind to the membrane of four different gram-negative hosts in addition to Escherichia coli: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, andRhodobacter sphaeroides. Cells harboring TrfA-encoding plasmids were fractionated into soluble, inner membrane, and outer membrane fractions. The fractions were subjected to Western blotting, and the blots were probed with antibody to the TrfA proteins. TrfA was found to fractionate with the cell membranes of all species tested. When the two membrane fractions of these species were tested for their ability to synthesize plasmid DNA endogenously (i.e., without added template or enzymes), only the inner membrane fraction was capable of extensive synthesis that was inhibited by anti-TrfA antibody in a manner similar to that of the original host species, E. coli. In addition, although DNA synthesis did occur in the outer membrane fraction, it was much less extensive than that exhibited by the inner membrane fraction and only slightly affected by anti-TrfA antibody. Plasmid DNA synthesized by the inner membrane fraction of one representative species, P. aeruginosa, was characteristic of supercoil and intermediate forms of the plasmid. Extensive DNA synthesis was observed in the soluble fraction of another representative species, R. sphaeroides, but it was completely unaffected by anti-TrfA antibody, suggesting that such synthesis was due to repair and/or nonspecific chain extension of plasmid DNA fragments.

scholarly journals Isolation of an Inner Membrane-Derived Subfraction That Supports In Vitro Replication of a Mini-RK2 Plasmid inEscherichia coli

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (6) ◽  
pp. 1757-1760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter D. Kim ◽  
William Firshein
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Membrane Fraction ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Inescherichia Coli ◽  
Binding Assays ◽  
Inner Membrane ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Replication Site

ABSTRACT Previous results have demonstrated that the inner, but not the outer, membrane fraction of Escherichia coli is the site of membrane-associated DNA replication of plasmid RK2, a broad-host-range plasmid capable of replication in a wide variety of gram-negative hosts (K. Michaels, J. Mei, and W. Firshein, Plasmid 32:19–31, 1994). To resolve the inner membrane replication site further, the procedure of Ishidate et al. (K. Ishidate, E. S. Creeger, J. Zrike, S. Deb, G. Glauner, T. J. MacAlister, and L. I. Rothfield, J. Biol. Chem. 261:428–443, 1986) was used to separate the inner membrane into a number of subfractions, of which only one, a small subfraction containing only 10% of the entire membrane, was found to synthesize DNA inhibited by antibody prepared against the plasmid-encoded initiation protein TrfA. This is the same subfraction that was also found to bind oriV and TrfA to the greatest extent in filter binding assays (J. Mei, S. Benashski, and W. Firshein, J. Bacteriol. 177:6766–6772, 1995).

scholarly journals Species-Dependent Phenotypes of Replication-Temperature-SensitivetrfA Mutants of Plasmid RK2: a Codon-Neutral Base Substitution Stimulates Temperature Sensitivity by Leading to Reduced Levels of trfA Expression

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (15) ◽  
pp. 3793-3798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ponniah Karunakaran ◽  
Janet Martha Blatny ◽  
Helga Ertesvåg ◽  
Svein Valla
Keyword(s):  
Expression Level ◽  
Base Substitution ◽  
Temperature Sensitive ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Neutral Mutation ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Neutral Base ◽  
Temperature Sensitive Phenotype ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

ABSTRACT TrfA is the only plasmid-encoded protein required for initiation of replication of the broad-host-range plasmid RK2. Here we describe the isolation of four trfA mutants temperature sensitive for replication in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One of the mutations led to substitution of arginine 247 with cysteine. This mutant has been previously described to be temperature sensitive for replication, but poorly functional, in Escherichia coli. The remaining three mutants were identical, and each of them carried two mutations, one leading to substitution of arginine 163 with cysteine (mutation 163C) and the other a codon-neutral mutation changing the codon for glycine 235 from GGC to GGU (mutation 235). Neither of the two mutations caused a temperature-sensitive phenotype alone in P. aeruginosa, and the effect of the neutral mutation was caused by its ability to strongly reduce the trfA expression level. The double mutant and mutant 163C could not be stably maintained in E. coli, but mutant 235 could be established and, surprisingly, displayed a temperature-sensitive phenotype in this host. Mutation 235 strongly reduced the trfA expression level also in E. coli. The glycine 85 codon in trfA mRNA is GGU, and a change of this to GGC did not significantly affect expression. In addition, we found that wild-type trfA was expressed at much lower levels in E. coli than in P. aeruginosa, indicating that this level is a key parameter in the determination of the temperature-sensitive phenotypes in different species. The E. coli lacZ gene was translationally fused at the 3′ end and internally in trfA, in both cases leading to elimination of the effect of mutation 235 on expression. We therefore propose that this mutation acts through an effect on mRNA structure or stability.

scholarly journals Promoters of the broad host range plasmid RK2: analysis of transcription (initiation) in five species of gram-negative bacteria.

Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Greener ◽  
S M Lehman ◽  
D R Helinski
Keyword(s):  
Host Range ◽  
Transcription Initiation ◽  
Promoter Activity ◽  
Firefly Luciferase ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Gram Negative Bacteria ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Transcriptional Start Sites ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

Abstract A broad host range cloning vector was constructed, suitable for monitoring promoter activity in diverse Gram-negative bacteria. This vector, derived from plasmid RSF1010, utilized the firefly luciferase gene as the reporter, since the assay for its bioluminescent product is sensitive, and measurements can be made without background from the host. Twelve DNA fragments with promoter activity were obtained from broad host range plasmid RK2 and inserted into the RSF1010 derived vector. The relative luciferase activities were determined for these fragments in five species of Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, four promoters were analyzed by primer extension to locate transcriptional start sites in each host. The results show that several of the promoters vary substantially in relative strengths or utilize different transcriptional start sites in different bacteria. Other promoters exhibited similar activities and identical start sites in the five hosts examined.

Multiple mechanisms for expression of incompatibility by broad-host-range plasmid RK2

1982 ◽  
Vol 152 (3) ◽  
pp. 1078-1090
Author(s):  
R Meyer ◽  
M Hinds
Keyword(s):  
Dna Replication ◽  
Host Range ◽  
Plasmid Dna ◽  
Plasmid Vector ◽  
Broad Host Range ◽  
Plasmid Maintenance ◽  
Broad Host Range Plasmid ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
Plasmid Partitioning ◽  
Plasmid Rk2

By cloning fragments of plasmid DNA, we have shown that RK2 expresses incompatibility by more than one mechanism. One previously identified (R. J. Meyer, Mol. Gen, Genet. 177:155--161, 1979; Thomas et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 181:1--7, 1981) determinant for incompatibility is linked to the origin of plasmid DNA replication. When cloned into a plasmid vector, this determinant prevents the stable inheritance of a coresident RK2. However, susceptibility to this mechanism of incompatibility requires an active RK2 replicon and is abolished if another replicator is provided. We have also cloned a second incompatibility determinant, encoded within the 54.1- to 56.4-kilobase region of RK2 DNA, which we call IncP-1(II). An RK2 derivative remains sensitive to IncP-1(II), even when it is not replicating by means of the RK2 replicon. The 54.1- to 56.4-kilobase DNA does not confer susceptibility to the IncP-1(II) mechanism, nor does it encode a detectable system for efficient plasmid partitioning. The incompatibility may be related to the expression of genes mapping in the 54.1- to 56.4-kilobase region, which are required for plasmid maintenance and suppression of plasmid-encoded killing functions.

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