Functional interactions between the gene tetanic and the Shaker gene complex of Drosophila

Different phenotypes associated with the tetanic (tta) mutation such as appendage contraction, maternal effect and low viability and fertility are enhanced by one extra dose of the Shaker gene complex (ShC). The tta mutation is lethal with two extra doses of ShC. In addition, tta embryos have a defective nervous system. In this paper, I analyse the interaction between tta and ShC to gain insight into their relationship. Aneuploid analysis suggests that the lethality is due to an interaction of the tta mutation with the maternal effect (ME) region of this gene complex. Mutations in the ME region of ShC partially suppress this interaction. Trans-heterozygous combinations of MEI[l(1)305] and MEIII [l(1)459] mutations causes dominant lethality in a tta background. Trans-heterozygous combinations of an MEII [l(1)1359] mutation with the cited MEI and MEIII mutations are lethal in a tta background. Double mutant combinations and gene dosage experiments, suggest that tta also interacts with the viable (V) region of ShC. These specific genetic interactions indicate that tta and the ME and V regions of ShC are functionally related. These results, together with the previous electrophysiological, molecular and biochemical studies on these mutants suggest an interaction at the protein level. Thus, in the case of the V region, the tta gene product may modulate the activity of the K⁺ channels encoded in this region. Furthermore, the extreme dosage sensitivity of the interaction between tta and ShC suggests a stoichiometric requirement for the different gene products involved, which might be physically associated and form heteromultimers.     

Involvement of the PS03 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in intrachromosomal mitotic recombination and gene amplification

Using a genetic system of haploid strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae carrying a duplication of the his4 region on chromosome III, the pso3-1 mutation was shown to decrease the rate of spontaneous mitotic intrachromosomal recombination 2- to 13-fold. As previously found for the rad52-1 mutant, the pso3-1 mutant is specifically affected in mitotic gene conversion. Moreover, both mutations reduce the frequency of spontaneous recombination. However, the two mutations differ in the extent to which they affect recombination between either proximally or distally located markers on the two his4 heteroalleles. In addition, amplifications of the his4 region were detected in the pso3-1 mutant. We suggest that the appearance of these amplifications is a consequence of the inability of the pso3-1 mutant to perform mitotic gene conversion.     

Escherichia coli parA is an allele of the gyrB gene

Summary A thermosensitive (ts) parA mutant, MFT110, of Escherichia coli carried at least two ts mutations. The major ts defect, resulting from a mutation mapped originally at 95 min and complemented by pLC8-47, was most probably due to psd. A plasmid carrying the 1.6 kb BamHI-PvuII fragment recloned from pLC8-47 complemented the major ts mutation in MFT110 and psd(ts) in two mutants, but did not correct the Par phenotype of MFT110. The second ts mutation was salt-repairable and mapped at 83 min close to recF and tnaA. This mutation was linked with the Par phenotype as shown unambiguously by 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole stained nucleoids in parA mutant cells with the W3110 genetic background. Both salt-repairable ts and Par traits were corrected concomitantly by a plasmid carrying the chromosomal region solely for the gyrB gene. This strongly suggests that parA is an allele of gyrB.     

ThenadB gene ofSalmonella typhimurium complements the nicotinic acid auxotrophy ofShigella flexneri

Shigella species are characteristically nicotinic acid (NA) auxotrophs. The invasiveS. flexneri strain M90T, transformed with the multicopy plasmid pZT349 encoding thenadB gene ofSalmonella typhimurium, can grow in minimal glucose medium without exogenous NA, whereas, M90T containing the control vector, pUC18 does not, suggesting that this species lacksl-aspartic acid oxidase, the first enzyme in the de novo NAD biosynthetic pathway. The estimated growth rate of strain M90T (pZT349) in HeLa cells was identical to that of M90T (pUC18), indicating the available intracellular concentration of NA is not limiting for bacterial growth.     

Molecular cloning and characterization of the dpy-20 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans

We describe the molecular analysis of the dpy20 gene in Caenorhabditis elegans. Isolation of genomic sequences was facilitated by the availability of a mutation that resulted from insertion of a Tc1 transposable element into the dpy-20 gene. The Tc1 insertion site in the m474:: Tc1 allele was identified and was found to lie within the coding region of dpy-20. Three revertants (two wild-type and one partial revertant) resulted from the excision of this Tc1 element. Genomic dpy-20 clones were isolated from a library of wild-type DNA and were found to lie just to the left of the unc-22 locus on the physical map, compatible with the position of dpy-20 on the genetic map. Cosmid DNA containing the dpy-20 gene was successfully used to rescue the mutant phenotype of animals homozygous for another dpy-20 allele, e1282ts. Sequence analysis of the putative dpy-20 homologue in Caenorhabditis briggsae was performed to confirm identification of the coding regions of the C. elegans gene and to identify conserved regulatory regions. Sequence analysis of dpy-20 revealed that it was not similar to other genes encoding known cuticle components such as collagen or cuticulin. The dpy-20 gene product, therefore, identifies a previously unknown type of protein that may be directly or indirectly involved in cuticle function. Northern blot analysis showed that dpy-20 is expressed predominantly in the second larval stage and that the mRNA is not at all abundant. Data from temperature shift studies using the temperature-sensitive allele e1282ts showed that the sensitive period also occurs at approximately the second larval stage. Therefore, expression of dpy-20 mRNA and function of the DPY-20 protein are closely linked temporally.     

Cloning and characterisation of the recA gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58

Summary A gene library of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 has been constructed in the plasmid vector pACYC184. A recombinant plasmid was isolated from the library by interspecific complementation in E. coli, which contained the A. tumefaciens recA gene. Heterologous Southern blotting and DNA sequence analysis have demonstrated the existence of considerable homology between the recA genes of A. tumefaciens, E. coli and R. meliloti.Abbreviations MMS methyl methanesulfonate - UV ultraviolet light - bp base pairs - kbp kilo base pairs - dATP deoxyadenosine 5-triphosphate - dNTP deoxynucleoside triphosphate - Ap ampicillin - Cm chloramphenicol - Km kanamycin - Tet tetracycline     

Genetic modification in the cyclin gene from a Nicotiana interspecific hybrid: role of the GTcyc gene in tumorization process

The organistic constitution of genetic tumors probably causes the constituent cells to undergo genetic change from normal growth to abnormal, a relatively undifferentiated proliferation. We report here that the cyclin GTcyc gene, isolated from genetic tumors yielded notably intense bands while those from the parental DNA were less expressed. In a similar fashion, Northern blot analysis revealed that the genetic tumors expressed high levels of GTcyc relative to non-tumor hybrid tissues. Furthermore, RAPD data showed that the genetic relationships between tumor tissues and their parents did not present a highly corresponding match, suggesting that tumor growth may relate to the genetic modification or hybridization-related genome reorganization. Taken together, the cyclin gene performs a critical role in cell cycle progression, and this particular gene (GTcyc) may be a potential factor in tumor formations, resulting in gene alterations or gains, or changes to specific genomic regions.     

Cloning and characterisation of the cytochrome c gene of Aspergillus nidulans

The cytochrome c gene (cycA) of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has been isolated and sequenced. The gene is present in a single copy per haploid genome and encodes a polypeptide of 112 amino acid residues. The nucleotide sequence of the A. nidulans cycA gene shows 87% identity to the DNA sequence of the Neurospora crassa cytochrome c gene, and approximately 72% identity to the sequence of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae iso-1-cytochrome c gene (CYC1). The S. cerevisiae CYC1 gene was used as a heterologous probe to isolate the homologous gene in A. nidulans. The A. nidulans cytochrome c sequence contains two small introns. One of these is highly conserved in terms of position, but the other has not been reported in any of the cytochrome c genes so far sequenced. Expression of the cycA gene is not affected by glucose repression, but has been shown to be induced approximatly tenfold in the presence of oxygen and three- to fourfold under heatshock conditions.     

Cre-LoxP系统在炭疽芽胞杆菌基因敲除中的应用及eag基因的敲除

将Cre-LoxP系统应用于Bacillus anthracis中并成功敲除eag基因．以B.anthracis基因组为模板扩增得到上下游同源臂,联合两端带有LoxP位点的壮观霉素抗性基因片段构建好同源重组载体,转化B．anthracis AP422,通过一系列筛选得到带有抗性标记的重组菌．然后,通过转入Cre重组酶表达质粒,去除抗性标记,得到eag基因缺失的重组菌,并在DNA水平、RNA水平和蛋白质水平进行了系统的鉴定．最终建立了Cre-LoxP系统在B．anthracis中的应用方法,并成功敲除eag基因.     

The switching gene swi6 affects recombination and gene expression in the mating-type region of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Summary The products of 11 switching (swi) genes are required for efficient mating-type (MT) switching in homothallic (h ⁹⁰) strains of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The MT region of h ⁹⁰ comprises three cassette genes: the expression site mat1: 1 and two silent loci, mat2: 2 and mat3: 3. Besides reducing MT switching, the swi6 mutation leads to deletions in the MT region caused by intrachromosomal cross-overs between two paired cassettes. These deletions only arise if DNA double-strand breaks are present at mat1: 1, which initiate MT switching. Furthermore, swi6 allows meiotic recombination in the K region, a region of 16 kb between mat2: 2 and mat3: 3; in wild-type strains no recombination occurs in K. swi6 also allows the simultaneous expression of two different cassettes in the same haploid cell. Thus swi6 may have an influence on the general chromatin structure in the MT region.     

红曲霉繁殖相关brlM基因鉴定及功能分析

brlA作为曲霉分生孢子形成的中心调控路径中最上游的转录因子,能够诱导下游特异基因的表达调控分生孢子的产生,brlA缺失将导致曲霉无法产生分生孢子,同时生长代谢发生改变,但对不同菌种的影响有显著差异。【目的】探究brlA同源基因brlM在红曲霉中的基因功能,探索红曲霉繁殖调控机制。【方法】从紫色红曲霉Mp-21菌株中克隆了brlA同源基因brlM。利用同源重组原理,用农杆菌介导转化法构建了brlM基因缺失突变株(△brlM),分析△brlM和野生菌株Mp-21在菌落表型、显微结构、生长速率和次生代谢产物等方面的差异,明确brlM基因在红曲霉中的主要功能。【结果】在形态水平上,brlM基因缺失菌株导致菌丝生长更加旺盛,赋予菌落更加蓬松的表型;显微观察发现△brlM失去了有性繁殖产生闭囊壳的能力,但却提升了无性繁殖产生分生孢子的能力;同时代谢产物红曲色素、莫纳可林K和桔霉素产量显著下降。【结论】红曲霉brlM基因的功能与曲霉属中的brlA并不相同,brlM基因在红曲霉有性繁殖中的作用不可替代。本研究的结果对进一步探索丝状真菌繁殖调控机制提供了新的思路。     

ThehapC gene ofAspergillus nidulans is involved in the expression of CCAAT-containing promoters

The 5 regulatory region of theamdS gene ofAspergillus nidulans, which encodes an acetamidase required for growth on acetamide as a carbon and nitrogen source, contains a CCAAT sequence which is required for setting the basal level ofamdS expression. Mobility shift studies have identified a factor inA. nidulans nuclear extracts which binds to this CCAAT sequence. InSaccharomyces cerevisiae theHAP3 gene encodes one component of a multisubunit complex that binds CCAAT sequences. A search of the EMBL and SwissProt databases has revealed anA. nidulans sequence with significant homology to theHAP3 gene adjacent to the previously cloned regulatory geneamdR. Sequencing of the remainder of this region has confirmed the presence of a gene, designatedhapC, with extensive homology toHAP3. The predicted amino acid sequence of HapC shows extensive identity to HAP3 in the central conserved domain, but shows little conservation in the flanking sequences. A haploid carrying ahapC deletion has been created and is viable, but grows poorly on all media tested. This null mutant grows especially slowly on acetamide as a sole carbon and nitrogen source, indicating thathapC plays a role inamdS expression. In agreement with this notion, it has been shown that thehapC deletion results in reduced levels of expression of anamdS::lacZ reporter gene and this effect is particularly evident under conditions of carbon limitation. Nuclear extracts prepared from thehapC deletion mutant show no CCAAT binding activity to theamdS orgatA promoters, indicating thathapC may encode a component of the complex binding at this sequence.     

Positive and negative cis-regulatory elements in the bithoraxoid region of the Drosophila Ultrabithorax gene

Summary The Ultrabithorax (Ubx) gene is required during embryogenesis and larval development to specify the third thoracic and first abdominal segments of Drosophila melanogaster. Mutations in the bithoraxoid (bxd) region, a 40 kb DNA stretch upstream of the Ubx promoter, affect cis-regulatory elements responsible for the ectodermal expression of the Ubx gene in the posterior compartment of the third thoracic segment and anterior compartment of the first abdominal segment. Our genetic data and the available molecular information are used to map the adult epidermal cis-regulatory elements within the bxd region. Genetic combinations involving mutations affecting the bxd region show that (1) redundant or cooperatively acting sequences are required for Ubx gene expression in the anterior compartment of the first abdominal segment, and (2) the expression of Ubx in the posterior compartment of the third thoracic segment is modulated by positive and negative cis-regulatory elements.The Wellcome Trust CRC Institute for Cancer Research and Developmental Biology, Tennis Court Road Cambridge, CB2 1QR, UKDivision de Genética, Departamento de Genética Molecular y Microbiología, Campus de San Juan, Apdo. 374, 03080 Alicante, Spain     

大黄属(蓼科) 植物ｎｄｈＦ 基因的适应性进化

大黄属(Rheum L.)是蓼科(Polygonaceae)中一个高度分化的大属,广泛分布在亚洲和欧洲的高山和沙漠地区,全世界约60种,其中在青藏高原及其邻近地区发现了约40种。该属种的高度分化曾被推测是第三纪末青藏高原的快速隆升以及第四纪气候的反复变化所引发的适应性辐射导致。为进一步了解大黄属植物辐射式物种分化的分子适应机制,该研究选取34个形态上多样化的大黄属物种,利用系统发育分析软件,在时间框架下采用位点模型和分支模型对大黄属的叶绿体ndhF基因进行了适应性进化分析。结果表明：大黄属植物的分子进化系统树呈现短而平行的辐射式分支式样,显示出典型的物种快速辐射多样化特征;用位点模型检验ndhF基因是否存在经受正向选择(ω>1)时,在氨基酸水平上共鉴定出3个NDHF亚基的正选择位点(188H,465H,551L),对NDHF亚基的二级结构进行分析后发现编码的188H氨基酸位于α螺旋上。大黄属植物可能通过这些结构域的适应性进化,适应青藏高原的快速隆升以及第四纪气候的反复变化而引发的陆地生态系统改变。该研究结果可为今后对该属植物的实验分析提供首选位点。     

Sequence complexity of the S receptor kinase gene family in Brassica

A genomic library from an S ₂₉/S ₂₉ self-incompatible genotype of Brassica oleracea was screened with a probe carrying part of the catalytic domain of a Brassica S-receptor kinase (SRK)-like gene. Six positive phage clones with varying hybridisation intensities (K1 to K6) were purified and characterised. A 650–700 by region corresponding to the probe was excised from each clone and sequenced. DNA and predicted protein sequence comparisons based on a multiple alignment identified K5 as a pseudogene, whereas the others could encode functional proteins. K3 was found to have lost an intron from its genomic sequence. The six genes display different degrees of sequence similarity and form two distinct clusters in a dendrogram. The 98% similarity between K4 and K6, which extends across intron sequences, suggests that these might be very recently diverged alleles or daughters of a duplication. In addition, K2 showed a comparably high similarity to the probe. Clones K1, K3 and K5 cross-hybridised with an SLG ₂₉ cDNA probe, indicating the presence of upstream receptor domains homologous to the Brassica SLG gene. This suggests that the previously reported S sequence complexity may be ascribed to a large receptor kinase gene family.     

Cloning of the cysB gene of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, and the identification of its product

Summary The suicide vector pJB4JI was used to generate a range of Tn5-induced mutants of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc). One mutant, HC500, was a cysteine auxotroph which had a non-pectolytic, non-cellulolytic, non-proteolytic phenotype when grown under sulphate-limitation. The cysteine lesion of HC500 was shown to be analogous to the cysB mutation of Escherichia coli. The Ecc-cysB ⁺ gene product was identified as a protein of M_r 36000.