Characterization of the small endogenous plasmid of Halobacterium strain SB3 and its use in transformation of H. halobium

1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil R. Hackett ◽  
Shiladitya DasSarma

To study the molecular biology of the halophilic archaebacterium Halobacterium halobium, the introduction of DNA engineered in vitro is desirable. As a first step in developing a cloning vector, the complete 1736 base pair nucleotide sequence of the natural, high copy number, Halobacterium plasmid pHSB1 has been determined. The plasmid was found to show homology to the small plasmids of Halobacterium strains GRB and GN101. Plasmid pHSB1 encodes a 317 amino acid protein of unknown function. The related halophile, H. halobium, could be transformed by pHSB1, demonstrating its utility as the basis of a cloning vector.Key words: archaebacteria, Halobacterium, plasmid.

2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (15) ◽  
pp. 5067-5074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Kasai ◽  
Eiji Masai ◽  
Keisuke Miyauchi ◽  
Yoshihiro Katayama ◽  
Masao Fukuda

ABSTRACT Sphingomonas paucimobilis SYK-6 converts vanillate and syringate to protocatechuate (PCA) and 3-O-methylgallate (3MGA) in reactions with the tetrahydrofolate-dependent O-demethylases LigM and DesA, respectively. PCA is further degraded via the PCA 4,5-cleavage pathway, whereas 3MGA is metabolized via three distinct pathways in which PCA 4,5-dioxygenase (LigAB), 3MGA 3,4-dioxygenase (DesZ), and 3MGA O-demethylase (LigM) are involved. In the 3MGA O-demethylation pathway, LigM converts 3MGA to gallate, and the resulting gallate appears to be degraded by a dioxygenase other than LigAB or DesZ. Here, we isolated the gallate dioxygenase gene, desB, which encodes a 418-amino-acid protein with a molecular mass of 46,843 Da. The amino acid sequences of the N-terminal region (residues 1 to 285) and the C-terminal region (residues 286 to 418) of DesB exhibited ca. 40% and 27% identity with the sequences of the PCA 4,5-dioxygenase β and α subunits, respectively. DesB produced in Escherichia coli was purified and was estimated to be a homodimer (86 kDa). DesB specifically attacked gallate to generate 4-oxalomesaconate as the reaction product. The Km for gallate and the V max were determined to be 66.9 ± 9.3 μM and 42.7 ± 2.4 U/mg, respectively. On the basis of the analysis of various SYK-6 mutants lacking the genes involved in syringate degradation, we concluded that (i) all of the three-ring cleavage dioxygenases are involved in syringate catabolism, (ii) the pathway involving LigM and DesB plays an especially important role in the growth of SYK-6 on syringate, and (iii) DesB and LigAB are involved in gallate degradation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 398 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukiko Mizutani ◽  
Akio Kihara ◽  
Yasuyuki Igarashi

The LASS (longevity assurance homologue) family members are highly conserved from yeasts to mammals. Five mouse and human LASS family members, namely LASS1, LASS2, LASS4, LASS5 and LASS6, have been identified and characterized. In the present study we cloned two transcriptional variants of hitherto-uncharacterized mouse LASS3 cDNA, which encode a 384-amino-acid protein (LASS3) and a 419-amino-acid protein (LASS3-long). In vivo, [3H]dihydrosphingosine labelling and electrospray-ionization MS revealed that overproduction of either LASS3 isoform results in increases in several ceramide species, with some preference toward those having middle- to long-chain-fatty acyl-CoAs. A similar substrate preference was observed in an in vitro (dihydro)ceramide synthase assay. These results indicate that LASS3 possesses (dihydro)ceramide synthesis activity with relatively broad substrate specificity. We also found that, except for a weak display in skin, LASS3 mRNA expression is limited almost solely to testis, implying that LASS3 plays an important role in this gland.


2014 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 592-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
FANG LIU ◽  
WENJUAN XU ◽  
LIHUI DU ◽  
DAOYING WANG ◽  
YONGZHI ZHU ◽  
...  

Tyrosine decarboxylase (TDC) is responsible for tyramine production and can catalyze phenylalanine to produce β-phenylethylamine. Enterococcus strains are a group of bacteria predominantly producing tyramine and β-phenylethylamine in water-boiled salted duck. In this study, the heterologous expression and characterization of two TDCs from Enterococcus faecalis R612Z1 (612TDC) and Enterococcus faecium R615Z1 (615TDC) were studied. The recombinant putative proteins of 612TDC and 615TDC were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. 612TDC is a 620-amino-acid protein with a molecular mass of 70.0 kDa, whereas 615TDC is a 625-amino-acid protein with a molecular mass of 70.3 kDa. Both 612TDC and 615TDC showed an optimum temperature of 25°C for the tyrosine and phenylalanine substrates. However, 612TDC revealed maximal activity at pH 5.5, whereas 615TDC revealed maximal activity at pH 6.0. Kinetic studies showed that 612TDC and 615TDC exhibited higher specificity for tyrosine than for phenylalanine. The catalysis abilities of both 612TDC and 615TDC for phenylalanine were restrained significantly with the increase in NaCl concentration, but this was not the case for tyrosine. This study revealed that the enzyme properties of the purified recombinant 612TDC and 615TDC were similar, although their amino acid sequences had 84% identity.


1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 865-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. U. Kim ◽  
C. H. Yun ◽  
W. S. Cho ◽  
S. K. Kang ◽  
T. Y. Chung

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 2074-2083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Naas ◽  
Wladimir Sougakoff ◽  
Anne Casetta ◽  
Patrice Nordmann

ABSTRACT The Pseudomonas aeruginosa Mus clinical isolate produces OXA-18, a pI 5.5 class D extended-spectrum β-lactamase totally inhibited by clavulanic acid (L. N. Philippon, T. Naas, A.-T. Bouthors, V. Barakett, and P. Nordmann, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 41:2188–2195, 1997). A second β-lactamase was cloned, and the recombinant Escherichia coli clone pPL10 expressed a pI 7.4 β-lactamase which conferred high levels of amoxicillin and ticarcillin resistance and which was partially inhibited by clavulanic acid. The 2.5-kb insert from pPL10 was sequenced, and a 266-amino-acid protein (OXA-20) was deduced; this protein has low amino acid identity with most of the class D β-lactamases except OXA-2, OXA-15, and OXA-3 (75% amino acid identity with each). OXA-20 is a restricted-spectrum oxacillinase and is unusually inhibited by clavulanic acid. OXA-20 is a peculiar β-lactamase because its translation initiates with a TTG (leucine) codon, which is rarely used as a translational origin in bacteria. Exploration of the genetic environment of oxa20revealed the presence of the following integron features: (i) a second antibiotic resistance gene, aacA4; (ii) anintI1 gene; and (iii) two 59-base elements, each associated with either oxa20 or aacA4. This integron is peculiar because it lacks the 3′ conserved region, and therefore is not a sul1-associated integron like most of them, and because its 3′ end is located within tnpR, a gene involved in the transposition of Tn5393, a gram-negative transposon.P. aeruginosa Mus produces two novel and unrelated oxacillinases, OXA-18 and OXA-20, both of which are inhibited by clavulanic acid.


2002 ◽  
Vol 83 (8) ◽  
pp. 2075-2083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cho-Hua Wan ◽  
Maria Söderlund-Venermo ◽  
David J. Pintel ◽  
Lela K. Riley

Rodent parvoviruses have been documented to interfere with both in vivo and in vitro research. In this study, three rat parvoviruses distinct from previously characterized rodent parvoviruses were identified from naturally infected rats obtained from four discrete sources. These three newly recognized parvoviruses were designated rat minute virus (RMV)-1a, -1b and -1c. In this study, the genomic nucleotide sequence and the predicted amino acid sequences of proteins for each of the three RMV-1 variants and Kilham rat virus (KRV) were determined and compared with previously characterized rodent parvoviruses. The three RMV-1 variants were shown to be closely related to each other, to be distinct from but closely related to KRV and H-1 virus, and to be significantly different from the previously identified rat parvovirus isolate, RPV-1a.


1999 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danièle Choury ◽  
Gérald Aubert ◽  
Marie-France Szajnert ◽  
Kemal Azibi ◽  
Marc Delpech ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT A clinical strain of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 non-O139 isolated in France produced a new β-lactamase with a pI of 5.35. The purified enzyme, with a molecular mass of 33,000 Da, was characterized. Its kinetic constants show it to be a carbenicillin-hydrolyzing enzyme comparable to the five previously reported CARB β-lactamases and to SAR-1, another carbenicillin-hydrolyzing β-lactamase that has a pI of 4.9 and that is produced by a V. cholerae strain from Tanzania. This β-lactamase is designated CARB-6, and the gene for CARB-6 could not be transferred to Escherichia coli K-12 by conjugation. The nucleotide sequence of the structural gene was determined by direct sequencing of PCR-generated fragments from plasmid DNA with four pairs of primers covering the whole sequence of the reference CARB-3 gene. The gene encodes a 288-amino-acid protein that shares 94% homology with the CARB-1, CARB-2, and CARB-3 enzymes, 93% homology with the Proteus mirabilis N29 enzyme, and 86.5% homology with the CARB-4 enzyme. The sequence of CARB-6 differs from those of CARB-3, CARB-2, CARB-1, N29, and CARB-4 at 15, 16, 17, 19, and 37 amino acid positions, respectively. All these mutations are located in the C-terminal region of the sequence and at the surface of the molecule, according to the crystal structure of theStaphylococcus aureus PC-1 β-lactamase.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiji Hongo ◽  
Kanetsu Sugawara ◽  
Yasushi Muraki ◽  
Yoko Matsuzaki ◽  
Emi Takashita ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Although unspliced mRNA from influenza C virus RNA segment 6 (M gene) has a single open reading frame capable of encoding a 374-amino-acid protein (Mr, 42,000), the major polypeptide synthesized from this mRNA species is the CM2 protein, with an Mr of 18,000. The present study was performed to investigate the mechanism by which CM2 is generated from the unspliced mRNA. It was reported previously that the 374-amino-acid protein (P42) is an integral membrane protein having two internal hydrophobic domains, one of which (residues 241 to 252) is followed by two sequences (252 Ile-Thr-Ser and 257 Ala-Ser-Ala) favorable for cleavage by signal peptidase. To examine the possibility that P42 is cleaved by signal peptidase after Ser residue 254 or Ala residue 259 to yield CM2, we constructed three mutated M gene cDNAs in which either or both of the two sequences were eliminated and tested their ability to synthesize CM2 in the transfected COS cells. The results showed that CM2 synthesis was blocked completely when the second recognition motif for signal peptidase was removed. It was also found that when the mRNA transcript of the wild-type M gene was translated in vitro, P42, but not CM2, was synthesized in the absence of dog pancreas microsomal membranes, whereas CM2, in addition to a polypeptide (designated M1′) slightly larger than matrix protein (M1), was synthesized in the presence of microsomes. When the same experiment was done with the transcript of the mutated M gene in which the second recognition motif was removed, synthesis of CM2 could not be seen, even in the presence of microsomes. From these results, we conclude that cleavage of P42 by signal peptidase after Ala residue 259 produces CM2, composed of the C-terminal 115 amino acids, in addition to M1′, composed of the N-terminal 259 amino acids.


2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 779-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Harder ◽  
Ross McGowan

We have isolated and characterized a cDNA sequence corresponding to the zebrafish muscle-specific isoform of creatine kinase. The sequence is 1552 bases in length and contains an open reading frame capable of producing a 381 amino acid protein. The sequence is very similar to muscle-specific creatine kinases isolated from other species at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels but contains some differences from a previously reported zebrafish clone.Key words: creatine kinase, muscle isoform, zebrafish, Danio rerio.


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