Specificity of the bacteriophage Mu mom+ -controlled DNA modification.

Bacteriophage Mu DNA was labeled after induction in the presence of [8-3H]adenine. Purified DNA was enzymatically digested, and the 3H-labeled dinucleotides were isolated. Approximately 15 to 20% of the adenine residues were modified to a new form, Ax, as observed previously (S. Hattman, J. Virol. 32:468-475, 1979) in bulk DNA. Paper electrophoretic analysis revealed that only two dinucleotide species contain Ax, namely, (Ax,C) and (Ax,G). The observation that only C and G are the nearest neighbors of Ax is consistent with the proposal of Kahmann and Kamp (R. Kahmann and D. Kamp, J. Mol. Biol., in press) that modification of Mu DNA occurs at the A residue within the pentanucleotide sequence, 5'...(CG)-A-(GC)-N-Py...3'.     

Instability of bacteriophage Mu transposase and the role of host Hfl protein

The activity of the transposase of bacteriophage Mu is unstable, requiring the protein to be synthesized throughout the lytic cycle (Pato and Reich, 1982). Using Western blot analysis, we analysed the stability of the transposase protein during the lytic cycle and found that it, too, is unstable. The instability of the protein is observed both in the presence and the absence of Mu DNA replication, and is independent of other Mu-encoded proteins and the transposase binding sites at the Mu genome ends. Stability of the protein is enhanced in host strains mutated at the hfl locus; however, stability of the transposase activity is not enhanced in these strains, suggesting that functional inactivation of the protein is not simply a result of its proteolysis.     

Structure-function relationships in the transposition protein B of bacteriophage Mu

The B-protein of phage Mu, which is required for high frequency intermolecular transposition in vivo, shows ATPase activity in vitro, binds nonspecifically to DNA, and stimulates intermolecular strand transfer. To elucidate the structural bases for B-protein function, it was subjected to limited proteolysis with two different proteases, trypsin and chymotrypsin. The resulting fragments were mapped by amino acid sequencing. These data show that the B-protein is organized in two domains: an amino-terminal domain of 25 kDa and a carboxyl-terminal domain of 8-kDa. A fragment analogous to the amino-terminal domain, produced by deleting the 3' end of a cloned B gene, proved to be insoluble and had to be renatured after elution from a sodium dodecyl sulfate gel. The renatured protein retains ATP-binding activity and to a lesser extent the DNA-binding activity of the MuB protein, but is unable to hydrolyze ATP or function in transposition. We also show in this study that efficient DNA-strand transfer by the B-protein occurs even in the absence of a detectable ATPase activity or in the presence of adenosine 5'-O-(thio)triphosphate (ATP gamma S).