scholarly journals Spontaneous Mutations Occur Near Dam Recognition Sites in a dam  -  Escherichia coli Host

Genetics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-347
Author(s):  
Margaretha Carraway ◽  
Philip Youderian ◽  
M G Marinus

ABSTRACT The mismatch repair system of Escherichia coli K12 removes mispaired bases from DNA. Mismatch repair can occur on either strand of DNA if it lacks N6-methyladenines within 5′-GATC-3′ sequences. In hemimethylated heteroduplexes, repair occurs preferentially on the unmethylated strand. If both strands are fully methylated, repair is inhibited. Mutant (dam  -) strains of E. coli defective in the adenine methylase that recognizes 5′-GATC-3′ sequences (Dam), and therefore defective in mismatch repair, show increased spontaneous mutation rates compared to otherwise isogenic dam  + hosts. We have isolated and characterized 91 independent mutations that arise as a consequence of the Dam- defect in a plasmid-borne phage P22 repressor gene, mnt. The majority of these mutations are A:T→G:C transitions that occur within six base pairs of the two 5′-GATC-3′ sequences in the mnt gene. In contrast, the spectrum of mnt  - mutations in a dam  + host is comprised of a majority of insertions of IS elements and deletions that do not cluster near Dam recognition sites. These results show that Dam-directed post-replicative mismatch repair plays a significant role in the rectification of potential transition mutations in vivo, and suggest that sequences associated with Dam recognition sites are particularly prone to replication or repair errors.

Genetics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 154 (2) ◽  
pp. 503-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
Stephen R Hewitt ◽  
John B Hays

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that the Escherichia coli MutHLS mismatch-repair system can process UV-irradiated DNA in vivo and that the human MSH2·MSH6 mismatch-repair protein binds more strongly in vitro to photoproduct/base mismatches than to “matched” photoproducts in DNA. We tested the hypothesis that mismatch repair directed against incorrect bases opposite photoproducts might reduce UV mutagenesis, using two alleles at E. coli lacZ codon 461, which revert, respectively, via CCC → CTC and CTT → CTC transitions. F′ lacZ targets were mated from mut+ donors into mutH, mutL, or mutS recipients, once cells were at substantial densities, to minimize spontaneous mutation prior to irradiation. In umu+ mut+ recipients, a range of UV fluences induced lac+ revertant frequencies of 4–25 × 10−8; these frequencies were consistently 2-fold higher in mutH, mutL, or mutS recipients. Since this effect on mutation frequency was unaltered by an Mfd− defect, it appears not to involve transcription-coupled excision repair. In mut+ umuC122::Tn5 bacteria, UV mutagenesis (at 60 J/m2) was very low, but mutH or mutL or mutS mutations increased reversion of both lacZ alleles roughly 25-fold, to 5–10 × 10−8. Thus, at UV doses too low to induce SOS functions, such as Umu2′D, most incorrect bases opposite occasional photoproducts may be removed by mismatch repair, whereas in heavily irradiated (SOS-induced) cells, mismatch repair may only correct some photoproduct/base mismatches, so UV mutagenesis remains substantial.


2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (5) ◽  
pp. 1701-1704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Wyrzykowski ◽  
Michael R. Volkert

ABSTRACT A major role of the methyl-directed mismatch repair (MMR) system of Escherichia coli is to repair postreplicative errors. In this report, we provide evidence that MMR also acts on oxidized DNA, preventing mutagenesis. When cells deficient in MMR are grown anaerobically, spontaneous mutation frequencies are reduced compared with those of the same cells grown aerobically. In addition, we show that a dam mutant has an increased sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide treatment that can be suppressed by mutations that inactivate MMR. In a dam mutant, MMR is not targeted to newly replicated DNA strands and therefore mismatches are converted to single- and double-strand DNA breaks. Thus, base pairs containing oxidized bases will be converted to strand breaks if they are repaired by MMR. This is demonstrated by the increased peroxide sensitivity of a dam mutant and the finding that the sensitivity can be suppressed by mutations inactivating MMR. We demonstrate further that this repair activity results from MMR recognition of base pairs containing 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) based on the finding that overexpression of the MutM oxidative repair protein, which repairs 8-oxoG, can suppress the mutH-dependent increase in transversion mutations. These findings demonstrate that MMR has the ability to prevent oxidative mutagenesis either by removing 8-oxoG directly or by removing adenine misincorporated opposite 8-oxoG or both.


Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 161 (4) ◽  
pp. 1363-1371
Author(s):  
Kazuo Negishi ◽  
David Loakes ◽  
Roel M Schaaper

Abstract Deoxyribosyl-dihydropyrimido[4,5-c][1,2]oxazin-7-one (dP) is a potent mutagenic deoxycytidine-derived base analogue capable of pairing with both A and G, thereby causing G · C → A · T and A · T → G · C transition mutations. We have found that the Escherichia coli DNA mismatch-repair system can protect cells against this mutagenic action. At a low dose, dP is much more mutagenic in mismatch-repair-defective mutH, mutL, and mutS strains than in a wild-type strain. At higher doses, the difference between the wild-type and the mutator strains becomes small, indicative of saturation of mismatch repair. Introduction of a plasmid containing the E. coli mutL+ gene significantly reduces dP-induced mutagenesis. Together, the results indicate that the mismatch-repair system can remove dP-induced replication errors, but that its capacity to remove dP-containing mismatches can readily be saturated. When cells are cultured at high dP concentration, mutant frequencies reach exceptionally high levels and viable cell counts are reduced. The observations are consistent with a hypothesis in which dP-induced cell killing and growth impairment result from excess mutations (error catastrophe), as previously observed spontaneously in proofreading-deficient mutD (dnaQ) strains.


1986 ◽  
Vol 5 (13) ◽  
pp. 3697-3703 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.V. Fazakerley ◽  
E. Quignard ◽  
A. Woisard ◽  
W. Guschlbauer ◽  
G.A. van der Marel ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (4) ◽  
pp. 1459-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Matic ◽  
Ana Babic ◽  
Miroslav Radman

ABSTRACT 2-Aminopurine treatment of Escherichia coli induces a reversible phenotype of DNA mismatch repair deficiency. This transient phenotype results in a 300-fold increase in the frequency of interspecies conjugational recombination with a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium Hfr donor. This method can be used for the generation of biodiversity by allowing recombination between diverged genes and genomes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (3) ◽  
pp. 840-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther S. Hong ◽  
Annie Yeung ◽  
Pauline Funchain ◽  
Malgorzata M. Slupska ◽  
Jeffrey H. Miller

ABSTRACT We have used direct selections to generate large numbers of mutants of Escherichia coli defective in the mismatch repair system and have screened these to identify mutants with temperature-sensitive defects. We detected and sequenced mutations that give rise to temperature-sensitive MutS, MutL, and MutH proteins. One mutation, mutS60, results in almost normal levels of spontaneous mutations at 37°C but above this temperature gives rise to higher and higher levels of mutations, reaching the level of null mutations in mutS at 43°C. However, at 37°C the MutS60 protein can be much more easily titrated by mispairs than the wild-type MutS, as evidenced by the impaired ability to block homeologous recombination in interspecies crosses and the increased levels of mutations from weak mutator alleles of mutD (dnaQ), mutC, and ndk. Strains with mutS60 can detect mispairs generated during replication that lead to mutation with much greater sensitivity than wild-type strains. The findings with ndk, lacking nucleotide diphosphate kinase, are striking. An ndk mutS60 strain yields four to five times the level of mutations seen in a full knockout of mutS. These results pose the question of whether similar altered Msh2 proteins result from presumed polymorphisms detected in tumor lines. The role of allele interactions in human disease susceptibility is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-890
Author(s):  
M. V. Monakhova ◽  
M. A. Milakina ◽  
R. M. Trikin ◽  
T. S. Oretskaya ◽  
E. A. Kubareva

2000 ◽  
Vol 275 (37) ◽  
pp. 29178
Author(s):  
Dong Kyung Chang ◽  
Luigi Ricciardiello ◽  
Ajay Goel ◽  
Christina L. Chang ◽  
C. Richard Boland

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