scholarly journals Galactose-specific messenger ribonucleic acid contents in Escherichia coli

1971 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Gosden ◽  
M. I. Irving ◽  
J. O. Bishop

A method is described for measuring the proportion of galactose-specific mRNA (gal-mRNA) in the total RNA extracted from pulse-labelled cells of Escherichia coli K12, by DNA–RNA hybridization with DNA prepared from bacteriophage λdg. RNA from wild-type E. coli was compared with RNA from a homogenote carrying the gal operon both in the chromosome and in a substituted sex-factor, and with RNA from a deletion strain that carried the galactose operon only in the exogenote. In each case the cultures were induced with fucose. Under these conditions the amount of gal-mRNA was found to be proportional to the content of galactokinase in the different cultures, and to the gene frequency. The amounts of gal-mRNA in an Oc mutant and an R− mutant were also proportional to the observed contents of galactokinase. In cultures repressed for the enzymes of the galactose operon with thiomethylgalactoside, the content of gal-mRNA was higher than expected from the content of galactokinase. Possible explanations of this finding are discussed.

1971 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Aboud ◽  
M. Burger

When Escherichia coli K-12 Hfr.H was induced to synthesize β-galactosidase in the presence of glucose, an untranslated lactose-specific mRNA (lac-mRNA), protected from decay, was found to accumulate progressively within the cells. The lac-mRNA accumulation was unaffected by the carbon source on which the cells had been grown before the induction. The amount of the lac-mRNA available for translation was affected by catabolite repression and 3′:5′-cyclic AMP, but it remained unclear whether this was a direct effect on the formation of the lac-mRNA or a consequence of the effect on its translation.


1971 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. O. Bishop ◽  
M. I. Irving

A method is described for measuring the porportion of a specific messenger RNA in the total RNA extracted from pulse-labelled cells. A model system consisting of total ribosomal RNA and Escherichia coli DNA is used to validate the method and to define the conditions under which it can be used.


Genetics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-429
Author(s):  
Maja Kricker ◽  
Barry G Hall

ABSTRACT The cellobiose catabolic system of Escherichia coli K12 is being used to study the role of cryptic genes in microbial evolution. Wild-type E. coli K12 do not utilize the β-glucoside sugars, arbutin, salicin and cellobiose. A Cel+ (cellobiose utilizing) mutant which grows on cellobiose, arbutin, and salicin was isolated previously from wild-type E. coli K12. Biochemical assays indicate that a cel structural gene (celT) specifies a single transport protein that is a β-glucoside specific enzyme of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system. The transport protein phosphorylates β-glucosides at the expense of phosphoenolpyruvate. A single phosphoglucosidase, specified by celH, hydrolyzes phosphorylated cellobiose, arbutin, and salicin. The genes of the cel system are expressed constitutively in the Cel+ mutant, whereas they are not expressed at a detectable level in the wild-type strain. The transport and hydrolase genes are simultaneously silenced or simultaneously expressed and thus constitute an operon. Cel+ strains which fail to utilize one or more β-glucosides express the transport system at a lower level than do Cel+ strains which grow on all three β-glucosides. Other strains inducibly express a gene which specifies transport of arbutin but not the other β-glucosides. The arbutin transport gene, arbT, maps outside of the cel locus.


Genetics ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-25
Author(s):  
Roberto Defez ◽  
Maurilio De Felice

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli K12 does not metabolize β-glucosides such as arbutin and salicin because of lack of expression of the bglBSRC operon, which contains structural genes for transport (bglC) and hydrolysis (bglB) of phospho-β-glucosides. Mutants carrying lesions in the cis-acting regulatory site bglR metabolize β-glucosides as a consequence of expression of this cryptic operon (Prasad and Schaefler 1974). We isolated mutations promoting β-glucoside metabolism that were unlinked to bglR; some of these mutations were shown to be amber. All of them were mapped at 27 min on the E. coli K12 linkage map and appeared to define a single gene, for which we propose the designation bglY. Utilization of β-glucosides in bglY mutants appeared to be a consequence of expression of the bglBSRC operon, since bglB bglR and bglB bglY double mutants had the same phenotype. All bglY mutations analyzed were recessive to the wild-type bglY  + allele. Phospho-β-glucosidase B and β-glucoside transport activities are inducible in bglY mutants, as they are in bglR mutants. Metabolism of β-glucosides in both bglR and bglY mutants required cyclic AMP. We propose that bglY encodes a protein acting as a repressor of the bglBSRC operon, active in both the presence and absence of β-glucosides, whose recognition site would be within the bglR locus.


2003 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 3088-3096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Redford ◽  
Paula L. Roesch ◽  
Rodney A. Welch

ABSTRACT Extraintestinal Escherichia coli strains cause meningitis, sepsis, urinary tract infection, and other infections outside the bowel. We examined here extraintestinal E. coli strain CFT073 by differential fluorescence induction. Pools of CFT073 clones carrying a CFT073 genomic fragment library in a promoterless gfp vector were inoculated intraperitoneally into mice; bacteria were recovered by lavage 6 h later and then subjected to fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Eleven promoters were found to be active in the mouse but not in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth culture. Three are linked to genes for enterobactin, aerobactin, and yersiniabactin. Three others are linked to the metabolic genes metA, gltB, and sucA, and another was linked to iha, a possible adhesin. Three lie before open reading frames of unknown function. One promoter is associated with degS, an inner membrane protease. Mutants of the in vivo-induced loci were tested in competition with the wild type in mouse peritonitis. Of the mutants tested, only CFT073 degS was found to be attenuated in peritoneal and in urinary tract infection, with virulence restored by complementation. CFT073 degS shows growth similar to that of the wild type at 37°C but is impaired at 43°C or in 3% ethanol LB broth at 37°C. Compared to the wild type, the mutant shows similar serum survival, motility, hemolysis, erythrocyte agglutination, and tolerance to oxidative stress. It also has the same lipopolysaccharide appearance on a silver-stained gel. The basis for the virulence attenuation is unclear, but because DegS is needed for σE activity, our findings implicate σE and its regulon in E. coli extraintestinal pathogenesis.


2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 3468-3474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyeong Tae Eom ◽  
Jae Kwang Song ◽  
Jung Hoon Ahn ◽  
Yeon Soo Seo ◽  
Joon Shick Rhee

ABSTRACT The ABC transporter (TliDEF) from Pseudomonas fluorescens SIK W1, which mediated the secretion of a thermostable lipase (TliA) into the extracellular space in Escherichia coli, was engineered using directed evolution (error-prone PCR) to improve its secretion efficiency. TliD mutants with increased secretion efficiency were identified by coexpressing the mutated tliD library with the wild-type tliA lipase in E. coli and by screening the library with a tributyrin-emulsified indicator plate assay and a microtiter plate-based assay. Four selected mutants from one round of error-prone PCR mutagenesis, T6, T8, T24, and T35, showed 3.2-, 2.6-, 2.9-, and 3.0-fold increases in the level of secretion of TliA lipase, respectively, but had almost the same level of expression of TliD in the membrane as the strain with the wild-type TliDEF transporter. These results indicated that the improved secretion of TliA lipase was mediated by the transporter mutations. Each mutant had a single amino acid change in the predicted cytoplasmic regions in the membrane domain of TliD, implying that the corresponding region of TliD was important for the improved and successful secretion of the target protein. We therefore concluded that the efficiency of secretion of a heterologous protein in E. coli can be enhanced by in vitro engineering of the ABC transporter.


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.


1982 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 534-537
Author(s):  
S Mitra ◽  
B C Pal ◽  
R S Foote

O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase is induced in Escherichia coli during growth in low levels of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. We have developed a sensitive assay for quantitating low levels of this activity with a synthetic DNA substrate containing 3H-labeled O(6)-methylguanine as the only modified base. Although both wild-type and adaptation-deficient (ada) mutants of E. coli contained low but comparable numbers (from 13 to 60) of the enzyme molecules per cell, adaptation treatment caused a significant increase of the enzyme in the wild type but not in the ada mutants, suggesting that the ada mutation is in a regulatory locus and not in the structural gene for the methyltransferase.


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