细菌麦芽糖淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的诱导型异源表达

【目的】实现地衣芽孢杆菌麦芽糖淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的高效异源表达,并研究该重组酶的酶学性质。【方法】克隆巨大芽孢杆菌木糖异构酶基因的启动子区域及其调控蛋白,构建一个大肠杆菌/芽孢杆菌穿梭型诱导表达质粒,使用该诱导型启动子介导麦芽糖淀粉酶编码基因,实现其在枯草芽孢杆菌中的功能表达。对重组枯草芽孢杆菌的诱导条件进行优化,提高麦芽糖淀粉酶的产量。【结果】获得了诱导表达麦芽糖淀粉酶基因的重组枯草芽孢杆菌菌株。最适诱导温度为45°C,最适诱导剂添加浓度为1%,最适添加诱导剂时间为接种培养9 h后。重组酶蛋白分子量大小为67 k D,对该酶的酶学性质研究发现,以可溶性淀粉为底物,反应生成麦芽糖和葡萄糖,其中麦芽糖含量为60.42%。重组酶最适作用温度为45°C,最适作用p H为6.5,Ca2+、Co2+、EDTA对该重组麦芽糖淀粉酶具有激活作用。【结论】通过木糖诱导表达系统可以实现麦芽糖淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的高效诱导型表达,酶活最高可达296.64 U/m L发酵液,在工业上有着较好的应用前景。     

肌苷生产菌枯草芽孢杆菌ATCC 13952的全基因组测序及序列分析

摘要:【目的】枯草芽孢杆菌ATCC 13952是一株肌苷工业生产菌株。为深入研究ATCC 13952菌株积累肌苷的分子机制以及为进一步分子育种研究提供序列背景信息,有必要解析ATCC 13952菌株的基因组序列信息。【方法】本研究采用高通量测序和Sanger测序相结合对ATCC 13952菌株进行全基因组测序,然后使用相关软件对测序数据进行基因组组装、基因预测与功能注释、GO/COG 聚类分析、共线性分析等。【结果】枯草芽孢杆菌ATCC 13952整个基因组大小为3876276 bp,GC含量为45.8%,序列已提交至GenBank 数据库,登录号为CP009748。比较基因组及嘌呤代谢相关基因分析结果显示:枯草芽孢杆菌ATCC 13952与其他几株芽孢杆菌具有较好的基因组共线性关系,嘌呤代谢相关基因编码的蛋白与标准菌株比较发生了一些缺失和突变。【结论】本研究首次报道了一株肌苷生产菌枯草芽孢杆菌ATCC 13952的全基因组序列,分析了基因组基本特征,初步探讨了该菌株积累肌苷的分子机制,为后续的进一步分子育种提供了理论基础。     

五株乳酸菌和三株芽孢杆菌的生物学特性和功能

【背景】乳酸菌和芽孢杆菌是应用于生产最多的益生菌,但不同菌株间的生长特性均不相同,因此了解菌株的生物学特性具有重要意义。【目的】研究菌株的生物学特性,能合理地开发和利用菌株,以保证菌株生产应用的安全性。【方法】活化后鉴定5株乳酸菌和3株芽孢杆菌并对其形态进行观察,探究菌株的生长曲线、产酸能力及最适生长条件,测定菌株的抑菌活性和产酶性能,同时探究菌株的益生性和安全性。【结果】五株乳酸菌分别编号鉴定为干酪乳杆菌R1、副干酪乳杆菌R2、香肠乳杆菌R3、福莱乳杆菌R4和唾液乳杆菌R5;3株芽孢杆菌分别编号命名为贝莱斯芽孢杆菌Y1、枯草芽孢杆菌Y2和地衣芽孢杆菌Y3。八株菌形态结构均不相同但都为杆状,均在2–10 h为对数生长期,18–24 h为稳定期,培养24 h时乳酸菌和芽孢杆菌的活菌数均保持在10⁹和10⁸ CFU/mL,最适生长温度为37.0℃。乳酸菌具有较强的产酸能力和抑菌活性,芽孢杆菌有较强的产酶性,在人工胃液中都有较强的耐受性。八株菌都无溶血活性、无毒力基因、对抗生素都保持中度敏感以上;其中唾液乳杆菌有四环素耐药基因,但对四环素抗性为中度敏感。【结论】八株菌生长繁殖速度快,乳酸菌产酸能力和抑菌活性较强,芽孢杆菌具有较强的产酶性能,在体外具有较好的益生性和安全性,可应用于生产实践。     

不同年龄大熊猫肠道可培养芽孢杆菌的多样性及部分功能特性分析

【背景】大熊猫的肠道内微生物类群丰富,种群结构与宿主的年龄、生存环境、季节变化等因素有关,其中年龄是影响肠道菌群组成的重要因素之一。【目的】以不同年龄阶段的大熊猫粪便为研究对象,旨在了解不同年龄大熊猫肠道内芽孢杆菌的多样性,探究大熊猫肠道芽孢杆菌种类与年龄段之间的关系,并为优良益生菌剂的开发提供菌种资源。【方法】用稀释涂布法分离大熊猫粪便中的芽孢杆菌,对分离的菌株进行BOXA1R-PCR、16S rRNA基因系统发育及主成分分析,揭示大熊猫肠道中可培养芽孢杆菌的多样性;采用对峙生长法和药敏纸片琼脂扩散法分别检测菌株的抗菌能力和药敏性。【结果】从大熊猫粪便中共分离出90株芽孢杆菌,基于BOXA1R-PCR分析菌株的遗传多样性并从中选取41株代表菌株,经16Sr RNA基因测序分析后,结果显示归属于枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillus subtilis)、萎缩芽孢杆菌(Bacillus atrophaeus)、贝莱斯芽孢杆菌(Bacillus velezensis)、甲基营养型芽孢杆菌(Bacillusmethylotrophicus)、解淀粉芽孢杆菌(Bacillusamyloliquefaciens)和短小芽孢杆菌(Bacillus pumilus)6个种;主成分分析结果表明大熊猫肠道芽孢杆菌种群组成与年龄存在一定的相关性。所有的供试菌株都具有纤维素降解潜力,大部分菌株对病原菌具有不同程度的抑制作用;除对青霉素具有耐药性外,供试菌株对常见的抗生素耐受性低。【结论】年龄是影响大熊猫肠道芽孢杆菌分布的重要因素,成年大熊猫肠道芽孢杆菌种类多样性最丰富,这为大熊猫益生菌制剂的开发提供了菌种资源。     

碱性蛋白酶SubC在枯草芽孢杆菌中的高效异源表达

【背景】碱性蛋白酶是工业用酶中占比最大的酶类,广泛应用于清洁、食品、医疗等行业。近期研究发现碱性蛋白酶在生产生物活性肽方面有巨大潜力,这将进一步拓宽其在保健食品领域中的应用。【目的】利用枯草芽孢杆菌异源表达地衣芽孢杆菌来源的碱性蛋白酶SubC。【方法】通过筛选3种枯草芽孢杆菌宿主菌株(Bacillus subtilis 1A751、MA07、MA08)和6种信号肽(AmyE、AprE、NprE、Pel、YddT、YoqM),同时优化诱导剂浓度、发酵培养基和发酵时长,最终得到最优重组菌株MA08-AmyE-subCopt。【结果】重组菌株MA08-AmyE-subCopt的胞外酶活力为3.33×103 AU/mL,胞外蛋白分泌量为胞内可溶蛋白表达量的4倍,与携带野生型信号肽的对照组菌株WT相比,酶活提高了73.4%。【结论】异源碱性蛋白酶SubC在枯草芽孢杆菌中成功表达,为碱性蛋白酶SubC的表达和在保健食品领域的工业化应用提供了理论基础。     

巨大芽孢杆菌β-淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中诱导表达及碳代谢去阻遏

【背景】β-淀粉酶在食品和医疗领域应用广泛。目前工业上使用的β-淀粉酶主要从植物中提取,生产成本高,限制了β-淀粉酶的应用。微生物生产的β-淀粉酶尽管早有报道,但由于产酶水平低下,因而一直未能实现工业化。【目的】实现巨大芽孢杆菌β-淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的高效诱导表达,缓解碳分解代谢物阻遏(Carbon catabolite repression,CCR)对该重组酶表达的影响,并研究其酶学性质。【方法】克隆枯草芽孢杆菌木糖诱导启动子,构建木糖诱导表达载体以介导巨大芽孢杆菌1514的β-淀粉酶编码基因amyM在枯草芽孢杆菌中的异源表达。定点突变位于amyM信号肽编码区的分解代谢物响应元件(Catabolite responsive element,CRE),降低碳源代谢对重组β-淀粉酶施加的阻遏。【结果】构建了诱导表达β-淀粉酶基因的重组枯草芽孢杆菌菌株。同义替换amyM-CRE保守碱基在不同程度上缓解了碳源所施加的CCR效应,重组酶的表达水平得到显著提高。重组酶的分子量为57 kD,水解可溶性淀粉主要生成麦芽糖和少量葡萄糖,其中麦芽糖含量为72%。该酶最适作用温度为50°C,最适反应pH为6.0。Co2+、Ca2+对重组β-淀粉酶具有激活作用。【结论】通过木糖诱导表达系统和碳代谢去阻遏实现了β-淀粉酶在枯草芽孢杆菌中的高效表达,酶活最高可达97.16 U/mL发酵液,比amyM基因来源菌巨大芽孢杆菌1514的β-淀粉酶产量提高了440倍,为β-淀粉酶发酵生产的工业化提供了支撑。     

水貂源高产蛋白酶枯草芽孢杆菌的分离筛选及酶学性质

【背景】开发、筛选优良益生菌菌种是当下畜牧业的研究热点,益生菌的潜在功能也被广为挖掘。【目的】分离、筛选具有良好耐受性且高产胞外蛋白酶的菌株,研究其生物学特性和酶学性质,为后续微生物蛋白酶的制备和微生态制剂的开发提供菌种资源。【方法】采集健康水貂新鲜粪便,配制酪蛋白培养基初筛和优化Folin-酚法复筛,对筛选菌进行生物学特性研究,获得产蛋白酶能力较强、耐受性较优的菌株,并进行常规鉴定和分子生物学鉴定,最后对蛋白酶酶学性质进行研究。【结果】筛选得到一株高产蛋白酶、耐受性较优的芽孢杆菌,经鉴定为枯草芽孢杆菌(Bacillussubtilis),编号为3。在初始发酵培养基条件下,酶学性质研究结果表明,该蛋白酶的最适反应温度为70℃,最适反应pH值为9.0,最佳金属离子激活剂为K+,Cu2+和Fe2+对酶活力有明显的抑制作用,在20%浓度的有机溶剂作用时蛋白酶未变性失活。【结论】从水貂粪便中分离获得一株具有良好的生物学特性、酶学性质和碱性蛋白酶活性的枯草芽孢杆菌,为该菌株在实际生产应用中提供了基础保障。     

海水养殖系统中37株枯草芽孢杆菌生理代谢、遗传特性及抑菌效果差异分析

【背景】由水产致病菌导致的病害不断暴发,寻找安全有效的抗生素替代品是目前生产的迫切需求。人们通常过于关注益生菌效应,而对其安全性评价重视度不够。【目的】分析我国海水养殖系统中不同来源枯草芽孢杆菌菌株的表型及遗传特征,并寻找绿色安全且具有多重抑菌作用的菌株。【方法】以2009-2021年从我国海水养殖系统中分离的37株枯草芽孢杆菌为对象,利用纸片扩散法(K-B法)检测其对不同抗生素的抗性;利用培养基平板法测定淀粉酶、蛋白酶和溶血能力;通过PCR方法检测枯草芽孢杆菌溶血相关基因携带风险;采用牛津杯法测定其对副溶血弧菌、溶藻弧菌、爱德华氏菌、哈维氏弧菌、美人鱼发光杆菌和假交替单胞菌等6种病原菌的抑菌作用;并对候选益生性枯草芽孢杆菌的安全性进行评估。【结果】药敏检测结果显示,37株枯草芽孢杆菌对甲氧苄啶、吡哌酸、链霉素表现出强耐药性,对磺胺嘧啶表现出中等耐药,对头孢噻肟、环丙沙星、舒巴坦的耐药率低,对克拉霉素、诺氟沙星、氟苯尼考、氟甲喹、复方新诺明、四环素表现为完全敏感。蛋白酶、淀粉酶活性测试结果显示,37株枯草芽孢杆菌能不同程度地水解酪蛋白和淀粉。溶血性测试结果显示,37株枯草芽孢杆菌中有4株出现溶血现象,而8个溶血相关基因在37株枯草芽孢杆菌中均有检出,溶血表型与检测基因关联分析表明,产生溶血现象的菌株与其溶血基因携带间无直接相关性。抑菌试验分析表明,37株枯草芽孢杆菌均对2种及以上病原菌有抑制作用,对6种病原菌均具有良好抑菌作用的有2株(菌株Bs4和Bs7)。对凡纳滨对虾的安全试验表明,菌株Bs4对凡纳滨对虾具有高安全性,7 d对虾存活率为100%。【结论】通过对37株枯草芽孢杆菌生理代谢表型、遗传特性及病原拮抗特性进行比较分析,揭示了我国海水养殖系统中枯草芽孢杆菌具有多元化的表型及遗传特征,并筛选出一株生态安全且具有多重抑菌活性的益生性枯草芽孢杆菌,为水产养殖病害防控、开发抑菌类微生态制剂及水产养殖行业健康绿色发展提供了理论基础和技术支撑。     

枯草芽孢杆菌表达系统及其启动子研究进展

枯草芽孢杆菌作为一种革兰氏阳性细菌,由于其具有非致病性、分泌蛋白能力强的特性和良好的发酵基础及生产技术,是目前原核表达系统中表达和分泌外源蛋白的理想宿主,成为原核表达系统中的一种重要的模式菌株。而实现外源蛋白的高效表达的关键因素之一是使用强并可控制的启动子。目前,枯草芽孢杆菌中常用的启动子为组成型、诱导物诱导型、时期特异性及自诱导型。详细介绍枯草芽孢杆菌表达系统以及其常用启动子的优缺点,并对克隆新的启动子的方法做了总结,旨为完善枯草表达系统和工业生产外源蛋白奠定基础。     

枯草芽孢杆菌氧化还原感应全局调控因子Rex对乙偶姻合成的影响

【背景】枯草芽孢杆菌体内含有一种可响应胞内氧化还原水平的因子,称之为氧化还原感应全局调控因子Rex (由基因ydiH编码)。Rex可通过感知辅酶NADH/NAD+水平的变化来调节胞内氧化还原平衡。【目的】研究Rex对枯草芽孢杆菌乙偶姻合成和辅因子代谢的相关性。【方法】利用比较转录组挖掘乙偶姻和2,3-丁二醇可逆转化过程中显著差异的基因,并通过Cre/lox基因敲除技术敲除ydiH、acuA (乙酰AcsA)和acoC (二氢脂酰胺乙酰转移酶)。随后,利用实时荧光定量PCR (RT-qPCR)技术分析敲除菌株中乙偶姻相关基因的转录水平。【结果】通过发酵实验发现,敲除ydiH会在一定程度上抑制菌体的生长速率,但发酵前期乙偶姻单位细胞产量和底物转化率都得到了显著提高;敲除acuA和acoC后,对乙偶姻合成、菌体生长和糖耗速率均影响不大;敲除ydiH后,与乙偶姻合成相关基因alsR (alsSD的正转录调控因子)、alsS (α-乙酰乳酸合成酶)、alsD (α-乙酰乳酸脱羧酶)和bdhA (2,3-丁二醇脱氢酶)的转录水平显著上调。【结论】枯草芽孢杆菌氧化还原感应全局调控因子Rex通过抑制与乙偶姻相关基因的转录水平影响乙偶姻合成。本研究首次报道了枯草芽孢杆菌中Rex和乙偶姻合成的相关性,为探索Rex如何通过调控相关基因的转录来影响胞内氧化还原稳态奠定了基础,也为提高枯草芽孢杆菌工业化生产强度和底物转化率提供了借鉴。     

Developing controllable hypermutable Clostridium cells through manipulating its methyl-directed mismatch repair system

Development of controllable hypermutable cells can greatly benefit understanding and harnessing microbial evolution. However, there have not been any similar systems developed for Clostridium, an important bacterial genus. Here we report a novel two-step strategy for developing controllable hypermutable cells of Clostridium acetobutylicum, an important and representative industrial strain. Firstly, the mutS/L operon essential for methyldirected mismatch repair (MMR) activity was inactivated from the genome of C. acetobutylicum to generate hypermutable cells with over 250-fold increased mutation rates. Secondly, a proofreading control system carrying an inducibly expressed mutS/L operon was constructed. The hypermutable cells and the proofreading control system were integrated to form a controllable hypermutable system SMBMutC, of which the mutation rates can be regulated by the concentration of anhydrotetracycline (aTc) . Duplication of the miniPthl-tetR module of the proofreading control system further significantly expanded the regulatory space of the mutation rates, demonstrating hypermutable Clostridium cells with controllable mutation rates are generated. The developed C. acetobutylicum strain SMBMutC2 showed higher survival capacities than the control strain facing butanol-stress, indicating greatly increased evolvability and adaptability of the controllable hypermutable cells under environmental challenges.     

Roles of endonuclease V, uracil-DNA glycosylase, and mismatch repair in Bacillus subtilis DNA base-deamination-induced mutagenesis

The disruption of ung, the unique uracil-DNA-glycosylase-encoding gene in Bacillus subtilis, slightly increased the spontaneous mutation frequency to rifampin resistance (Rif(r)), suggesting that additional repair pathways counteract the mutagenic effects of uracil in this microorganism. An alternative excision repair pathway is involved in this process, as the loss of YwqL, a putative endonuclease V homolog, significantly increased the mutation frequency of the ung null mutant, suggesting that Ung and YwqL both reduce the mutagenic effects of base deamination. Consistent with this notion, sodium bisulfite (SB) increased the Rif(r) mutation frequency of the single ung and double ung ywqL strains, and the absence of Ung and/or YwqL decreased the ability of B. subtilis to eliminate uracil from DNA. Interestingly, the Rif(r) mutation frequency of single ung and mutSL (mismatch repair [MMR] system) mutants was dramatically increased in a ung knockout strain that was also deficient in MutSL, suggesting that the MMR pathway also counteracts the mutagenic effects of uracil. Since the mutation frequency of the ung mutSL strain was significantly increased by SB, in addition to Ung, the mutagenic effects promoted by base deamination in growing B. subtilis cells are prevented not only by YwqL but also by MMR. Importantly, in nondividing cells of B. subtilis, the accumulations of mutations in three chromosomal alleles were significantly diminished following the disruption of ung and ywqL. Thus, under conditions of nutritional stress, the processing of deaminated bases in B. subtilis may normally occur in an error-prone manner to promote adaptive mutagenesis.     

Contribution of the mismatch DNA repair system to the generation of stationary-phase-induced mutants of Bacillus subtilis

A reversion assay system previously implemented to demonstrate the existence of adaptive or stationary-phase-induced mutagenesis in Bacillus subtilis was utilized in this report to study the influence of the mismatch DNA repair (MMR) system on this type of mutagenesis. Results revealed that a strain deficient in MutSL showed a significant propensity to generate increased numbers of stationary-phase-induced revertants. These results suggest that absence or depression of MMR is an important factor in the mutagenesis of nongrowing B. subtilis cells because of the role of MMR in repairing DNA damage. In agreement with this suggestion, a significant decrease in the number of adaptive revertant colonies, for the three markers tested, occurred in B. subtilis cells which overexpressed a component of the MMR system. Interestingly, the single overexpression of mutS, but not of mutL, was sufficient to decrease the level of adaptive mutants in the reversion assay system of B. subtilis. The results presented in this work, as well as in our previous studies, appear to suggest that an MMR deficiency, putatively attributable to inactivation or saturation with DNA damage of MutS, may occur in a subset of B. subtilis cells that differentiate into the hypermutable state.     

适应性突变的遗传学特征

基于大肠杆菌FC40菌株的研究结果表明,适应性突变依赖RecBCD重组途径的酶,要求SOS反应的部分基因功能,lac+回复突变序列都是在单核苷酸短重复序列处的一个碱基缺失。有证据表明有的适应性突变来自一个或多个暂时性的超突变的细胞亚群,它们的基因组发生大量的突变,转座子高频丢失。产生这种暂时性的超突变的增变子可能是因为细胞的MMR活性暂时不足,或是因错误翻译产生丧失了校读活性的DNA聚合酶III。其他一些研究系统虽然得到了一些同FC40菌株不一致的结论,但所有实验证据都表明,在饥饿等环境胁迫因子作用下,非生长或缓慢生长的细胞可以产生突变,这种突变具有生长依赖的自发突变所不同的一些遗传学特征。 Abstract:The research based on the Escherichia coli FC40 showed that adaptive mutations required the enzymes of RecBCD recombination pathway and some unknown proteins of SOS response,and the mutation spectrum of lac+ revertants is single-base deletions in the small mononucleotide repeats.Some evidence showed that the revertants with adaptive mutations partly come from one (or some) subset of transient hypermutable subpopulation of cells,in which high frequently losing of transposons and genome-wide mutations were observed.It was suggested that this kind of transient hypermutability may be due to the transient deficient activity of mismatch repair (MMR) system,or a defective epsilon unit of DNA polymerase III generated by mistranslation.Although other systems demonstrated some different mechanisms from FC40,all research works suggested that,adaptive mutations occurred in nondividing or nongrowing cells under environmental stresses,for example,starvation,displayed different genetic features from growth-dependent spontaneous mutation.     

Mismatch repair modulation of MutY activity drives Bacillus subtilis stationary-phase mutagenesis

Stress-promoted mutations that occur in nondividing cells (adaptive mutations) have been implicated strongly in causing genetic variability as well as in species survival and evolutionary processes. Oxidative stress-induced DNA damage has been associated with generation of adaptive His(+) and Met(+) but not Leu(+) revertants in strain Bacillus subtilis YB955 (hisC952 metB5 leuC427). Here we report that an interplay between MutY and MutSL (mismatch repair system [MMR]) plays a pivotal role in the production of adaptive Leu(+) revertants. Essentially, the genetic disruption of MutY dramatically reduced the reversion frequency to the leu allele in this model system. Moreover, the increased rate of adaptive Leu(+) revertants produced by a MutSL knockout strain was significantly diminished following mutY disruption. Interestingly, although the expression of mutY took place during growth and stationary phase and was not under the control of RecA, PerR, or σ(B), a null mutation in the mutSL operon increased the expression of mutY several times. Thus, in starved cells, saturation of the MMR system may induce the expression of mutY, disturbing the balance between MutY and MMR proteins and aiding in the production of types of mutations detected by reversion to leucine prototrophy. In conclusion, our results support the idea that MMR regulation of the mutagenic/antimutagenic properties of MutY promotes stationary-phase mutagenesis in B. subtilis cells.     

Selective and non-selective bottlenecks as drivers of the evolution of hypermutable bacterial loci

Bottlenecks reduce the size of the gene pool within populations of all life forms with implications for their subsequent survival. Here, we examine the effects of bottlenecks on bacterial commensal-pathogens during transmission between, and dissemination within, hosts. By reducing genetic diversity, bottlenecks may alter individual or population-wide adaptive potential. A diverse range of hypermutable mechanisms have evolved in infectious agents that allow for rapid generation of genetic diversity in specific genomic loci as opposed to the variability arising from increased genome-wide mutation rates. These localised hypermutable mechanisms include multi-gene phase variation (PV) of outer membrane components, multi-allele PV of restriction systems and recombination-driven antigenic variation. We review selected experimental and theoretical (mathematical) models pertaining to the hypothesis that localised hypermutation (LH) compensates for fitness losses caused by bottlenecks and discuss whether bottlenecks have driven the evolution of hypermutable loci.     

Fitness recovery and compensatory evolution in natural mutant lines of C. elegans

Deleterious mutation accumulation plays a central role in evolutionary genetics, conservation biology, human health, and evolutionary medicine (e.g., methods of viral attenuation for live vaccines). It is therefore important to understand whether and how quickly populations with accumulated deleterious mutational loads can recover fitness through adaptive evolution. We used laboratory experimental evolution with four long-term mutation-accumulation (MA) lines of Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes to study the dynamics of such fitness evolution. We previously showed that when homozygous mutant populations are evolved in large population sizes, they can rapidly achieve wild-type fitness through the accumulation of new beneficial or compensatory epistatic mutations. Here, we expand this approach to demonstrate that when replicate lineages are initiated from the same mutant genotype, phenotypic evolution is only sometimes repeatable. MA genotypes that recovered ancestral fitness in the previous experiment did not always do so here. Further, the pattern of adaptive evolution in independently evolved replicates was contingent upon the MA genotype and varied among fitness-related traits. Our findings suggest that new beneficial mutations can drive rapid fitness evolution, but that the adaptive process is rendered somewhat unpredictable by its susceptibility to chance events and sensitivity to the evolutionary history of the starting population.     

Mutability in Pseudomonas viridiflava as a programmed balance between antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity

Mutable bacterial cells are defective in their DNA repair system and often have a phenotype different from that of their wild‐type counterparts. In human bacterial pathogens, the mutable and hypermutable phenotypes are often associated with general antibiotic resistance. Here, we quantified the occurrence of mutable cells in Pseudomonas viridiflava, a phytopathogenic bacterium in the P. syringae complex with a broad host range and capacity to live as a saprophyte. Two phenotypic variants (transparent and mucoid) were produced by this bacterium. The transparent variant had a mutator phenotype, showed general antibiotic resistance and could not induce disease on the plant species tested (bean). In contrast, the mucoid variant did not display mutability or resistance to antibiotics and was capable of inducing disease on bean. Both the transparent and mucoid variants were less fit when grown in vitro, whereas, in planta, both of the variants and wild‐types attained similar population densities. Given the importance of the methyl‐directed mismatch repair system (MMR) in the occurrence of mutable and hypermutable cells in human bacterial pathogens, we investigated whether mutations in mut genes were associated with mutator transparent cells in P. viridiflava. Our results showed no mutations in MMR genes in any of the P. viridiflava cells tested. Here, we report that a high mutation rate and antibiotic resistance are inversely correlated with pathogenicity in P. viridiflava, but are not associated with mutations in MMR. In addition, P. viridiflava variants differ from variants produced by other phytopathogenic bacteria in the absence of reversion to the wild‐type phenotype.     

Adaptive,or stationary-phase,mutagenesis, a component of bacterial differentiation in Bacillus subtilis

Adaptive (stationary-phase) mutagenesis occurs in the gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Furthermore, taking advantage of B. subtilis as a paradigm for the study of prokaryotic differentiation and development, we have shown that this type of mutagenesis is subject to regulation involving at least two of the genes that are involved in the regulation of post-exponential phase prokaryotic differentiation, i.e., comA and comK. On the other hand, a functional RecA protein was not required for this type of mutagenesis. The results seem to suggest that a small subpopulation(s) of the culture is involved in adaptive mutagenesis and that this subpopulation(s) is hypermutable. The existence of such a hypermutable subpopulation(s) raises important considerations with respect to evolution, the development of specific mutations, the nature of bacterial populations, and the level of communication among bacteria in an ecological niche.     

The mismatch repair system (mutS, mutL and uvrD genes) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: molecular characterization of naturally occurring mutants

We have recently described the presence of a high proportion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates (20%) with an increased mutation frequency (mutators) in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In four out of 11 independent P. aeruginosa strains, the high mutation frequency was found to be complemented with the wild-type mutS gene from P. aeruginosa PAO1. Here, we report the cloning and sequencing of two additional P. aeruginosa mismatch repair genes and the characterization, by complementation of deficient strains, of these two putative P. aeruginosa mismatch repair genes (mutL and uvrD). We also describe the alterations in the mutS, mutL and uvrD genes responsible for the mutator phenotype of hypermutable P. aeruginosa strains isolated from CF patients. Seven out of the 11 mutator strains were found to be defective in the MMR system (four mutS, two mutL and one uvrD). In four cases (three mutS and one mutL), the genes contained frameshift mutations. The fourth mutS strain showed a 3.3 kb insertion after the 10th nucleotide of the mutS gene, and a 54 nucleotide deletion between two eight nucleotide direct repeats. This deletion, involving domain II of MutS, was found to be the main one responsible for mutS inactivation. The second mutL strain presented a K310M mutation, equivalent to K307 in Escherichia coli MutL, a residue known to be essential for its ATPase activity. Finally, the uvrD strain had three amino acid substitutions within the conserved ATP binding site of the deduced UvrD polypeptide, showing defective mismatch repair activity. Interestingly, cells carrying this mutant allele exhibited a fully active UvrABC-mediated excision repair. The results shown here indicate that the putative P. aeruginosa mutS, mutL and uvrD genes are mutator genes and that their alteration results in a mutator phenotype.