Regulated expression of plant tRNA genes by the prokaryotic tet and lac repressors

The prokaryotic tet operator (tetO) sequence was inserted at positions upstream and downstream of sequences encoding the Arabidopsis thaliana tRNA _AUC ^Lys or tRNA _AUC ^Trp suppressor tRNAs, and tRNA expression in carrot protoplasts was measured by translational suppression of a nonsense codon in a luciferase reporter gene. Regulation of tRNA expression by the tetracycline repressor (tetR) occurred from genes with the tetO inserted at position –1 (for the tRNA _AUC ^Trp gene), or at positions –2, –6 and –10 (for the tRNA _AUC ^Lys gene), and repression reached 90%. The inducer tetracycline (Tc) restored tRNA expression. Similarly, carrot protoplasts transfected with human tRNA _AUC ^Ser genes containing the lac operator (lacO) in their 5-flanking sequence with or without the lac repressor (lacI) gene, conditionally expressed tRNAs which suppressed the luciferase reporter. Up to 30-fold repression occured by the lactose repressor when lacO was located at position –1 of the tRNA _AUC ^Ser coding sequence. In the presence of the inducer isopropyl--thiogalactoside (IPTG), repression was relieved. These results demonstrate that sequences flanking tRNA genes can strongly influence tRNA expression in plants, and in a conditional fashion when bound by inducible proteins.     

Modifications of the E.coli Lac repressor for expression in eukaryotic cells: effects of nuclear signal sequences on protein activity and nuclear accumulation.

Eukaryotic expression vectors designed to produce E. coli Lac repressor protein targeted to the nucleus of mammalian cells were constructed. These constructions carry the lac repressor gene (lacI) fused at different positions to a nuclear localization sequence (NLS) from either the SV40 large T antigen or the adenovirus E1a. When the NLS's were fused to the lacI gene at the 5' end, the protein produced exhibited tighter repression of beta-galactosidase expression than the unmodified LacI protein. Localization sequences at the extreme 3' end of the gene generally diminished induction by IPTG, while introduction of the SV40 NLS nine base pairs upstream of the 3' end eliminated repressor activity. When either NLS was placed at the 3' end behind a random nine base pair linker, the activity of the LacI protein depended on the sequence of the linker, and in 9 of 10 linkers tested, activity of the protein was adversely affected. The one exception was the fusion protein from p3'ss, which had the NLS at the 3' end of lacI behind the nine base pair linker, AGC AGC CTG (ser-ser-leu). This protein exhibited efficient nuclear accumulation, strong repressor activity and greater sensitivity to IPTG induction. The functional linker from the p3'ss fusion protein extends the leucine zipper heptad repeat located at the C-terminus of the protein. These data support the role of the leucine zipper in tetramer formation and predict that extension of this zipper will further stabilize the protein. This modified lacI gene should be valuable for improved adaptation of the prokaryotic regulatory system to eukaryotic cells.     

Expanding the genetic toolbox for Leptospira species by generation of fluorescent bacteria

Our knowledge of the genetics and molecular basis of the pathogenesis associated with Leptospira, in comparison to those of other bacterial species, is very limited. An improved understanding of pathogenic mechanisms requires reliable genetic tools for functional genetic analysis. Here, we report the expression of gfp and mRFP1 genes under the control of constitutive spirochetal promoters in both saprophytic and pathogenic Leptospira strains. We were able to reliably measure the fluorescence of Leptospira by fluorescence microscopy and a fluorometric microplate reader-based assay. We showed that the expression of the gfp gene had no significant effects on growth in vivo and pathogenicity in L. interrogans. We constructed an expression vector for L. biflexa that contains the lacI repressor, an inducible lac promoter, and gfp as the reporter, demonstrating that the lac system is functional in Leptospira. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression was induced by the addition of isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) in L. biflexa transformants harboring the expression vector. Finally, we showed that GFP can be used as a reporter to assess promoter activity in different environmental conditions. These results may facilitate further advances for studying the genetics of Leptospira spp.     

Controlling the expression of rhizobial genes during nodule development with elements and an inducer of the lac operon

A simple strategy was tested for imposing artificial regulation of rhizobial genes during nodule development. Isopropyl-β-d-1-thiogalactoside (IPTG) was added to liquid root media to sustain expression of rhizobial genes controlled by Escherichia coli lac promoter/operators and repressor gene lacI. Conversely, a rinsing protocol was devised to remove IPTG sufficiently that genes could be repressed after having been induced. gusA under this control exhibited clearly delineated expression and repression in both the determinate Rhizobium etli-Phaseolus vulgaris and the indeterminate Sinorhizobium meliloti-Medicago sativa symbioses. Apparently, IPTG was taken up in sufficiently undegraded concentrations that gene expression was derepressed even in interior portions of the nodule. Moreover, the rinsing protocol led to obvious repression of gusA. Importantly, no deleterious effects of IPTG on nodule development, infection, or nitrogen fixation were observed. An R. etli CE3 gene required for lipopolysaccharide O antigen and infection on bean was put under this control by means of a two-plasmid construct. When this construct was added to a strain with a null mutation in this gene, infection, nodule development, and nitrogenase activity all depended on the length of time before IPTG was rinsed from the roots after inoculation.     

Regulated expression of nuclear genes by T3 RNA polymerase and lac repressor, using recombinant vaccinia virus vectors.

Recombinant vaccinia viruses that express the bacteriophage T3 RNA polymerase (VV-T3pol) or the Escherichia coli lac repressor (VV-lacI) under control of the early-late vaccinia promoter P7.5 were constructed. To determine whether phage polymerase and lac repressor can function in the nucleus of mammalian cells, the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene was cloned downstream of a T3 promoter (PT3-CAT) or downstream of a T3 promoter-lac operator fusion element (PT3Olac-CAT), and these reporter gene cassettes were introduced stably into NIH 3T3 or Ltk- cells. Infection of 3T3/PT3-CAT or Ltk-/PT3-CAT cells by VV-T3pol led to rapid expression of CAT (greater than 20 ng of CAT protein per 10(6) cells). The presence of hydroxyurea (which blocks virus DNA replication) did not prevent CAT production. When 3T3/PT3Olac-CAT cells were infected with both VV-T3pol and VV-lacI (multiplicities of infection of 2.5 and 10, respectively), greater than 30-fold repression of CAT gene activity by lac repressor was observed. This could be reversed to unrepressed levels by the presence of 10 mM o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactoside (IPTG) in the medium. Regulated expression of the target gene was observed with cell lines that had been maintained for over 1 year (greater than 50 passages in culture), and Southern blot analysis revealed the presence of the CAT gene only in the nuclear fraction in these cells, demonstrating the stability of the target gene. These results indicate that vaccinia virus-encoded proteins can function in the mammalian nucleus and provide the basis for a genetic system in which essential vaccinia virus genes, placed in the chromosome of a cell, can be used to complement defective virus particles. This approach may prove useful for other virus systems.     

Engineering a root-specific, repressor-operator gene complex

Strong, tissue-specific and genetically regulated expression systems are essential tools in plant biotechnology. An expression system tool called a 'repressor-operator gene complex' (ROC) has diverse applications in plant biotechnology fields including phytoremediation, disease resistance, plant nutrition, food safety, and hybrid seed production. To test this concept, we assembled a root-specific ROC using a strategy that could be used to construct almost any gene expression pattern. When a modified E. coli lac repressor with a nuclear localization signal was expressed from a rubisco small subunit expression vector, S1pt::lacIn, LacIn protein was localized to the nuclei of leaf and stem cells, but not to root cells. A LacIn repressible Arabidopsis actin expression vector A2pot was assembled containing upstream bacterial lacO operator sequences, and it was tested for organ and tissue specificity using beta-glucuronidase (GUS) and mercuric ion reductase (merA) gene reporters. Strong GUS enzyme expression was restricted to root tissues of A2pot::GUS/S1pt::lacIn ROC plants, while GUS activity was high in all vegetative tissues of plants lacking the repressor. Repression of shoot GUS expression exceeded 99.9% with no evidence of root repression, among a large percentage of doubly transformed plants. Similarly, MerA was strongly expressed in the roots, but not the shoots of A2pot::merA/S1pt::lacIn plants, while MerA levels remained high in both shoots and roots of plants lacking repressor. Plants with MerA expression restricted to roots were approximately as tolerant to ionic mercury as plants constitutively expressing MerA in roots and shoots. The superiority of this ROC over the previously described root-specific tobacco RB7 promoter is demonstrated.     

Regulation and Adaptive Evolution of Lactose Operon Expression in Lactobacillus delbrueckii

Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis are both used in the dairy industry as homofermentative lactic acid bacteria in the production of fermented milk products. After selective pressure for the fast fermentation of milk in the manufacture of yogurts, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus loses its ability to regulate lac operon expression. A series of mutations led to the constitutive expression of the lac genes. A complex of insertion sequence (IS) elements (ISL4 inside ISL5), inserted at the border of the lac promoter, induced the loss of the palindromic structure of one of the operators likely involved in the binding of regulatory factors. A lac repressor gene was discovered downstream of the beta-galactosidase gene of L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis and was shown to be inactivated by several mutations in L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. Regulatory mechanisms of the lac gene expression of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and L. delbrueckii subsp. lactis were compared by heterologous expression in Lactococcus lactis of the two lac promoters in front of a reporter gene (beta-glucuronidase) in the presence or absence of the lac repressor gene. Insertion of the complex of IS elements in the lac promoter of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus increased the promoter's activity but did not prevent repressor binding; rather, it increased the affinity of the repressor for the promoter. Inactivation of the lac repressor by mutations was then necessary to induce the constitutive expression of the lac genes in L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus.     

Repressor titration: a novel system for selection and stable maintenance of recombinant plasmids.

The propagation of recombinant plasmids in bacterial hosts, particularly in Escherichia coli, is essential for the amplification and manipulation of cloned DNA and the production of recombinant proteins. The isolation of bacterial transformants and subsequent stable plasmid maintenance have traditionally been accomplished using plasmid-borne selectable marker genes. Here we describe a novel system that employs plasmid-mediated repressor titration to activate a chromosomal selectable marker, removing the requirement for a plasmid-borne marker gene. A modified E.coli host strain containing a conditionally essential chromosomal gene (kan) under the control of the lac operator/promoter, lac O/P, has been constructed. In the absence of an inducer (allolactose or IPTG) this strain, DH1 lackan , cannot grow on kanamycin-containing media due to the repression of kan expression by LacI protein binding to lac O/P. Transformation with a high copy-number plasmid containing the lac operator, lac O, effectively induces kan expression by titrating LacI from the operator. This strain thus allows the selection of plasmids without antibiotic resistance genes (they need only contain lac O and an origin of replication) which have clear advantages for use as gene therapy vectors. Regulation in the same way of an essential, endogenous bacterial gene will allow the production of recombinant therapeutics devoid of residual antibiotic contamination.     

Generation and evaluation of an IPTG-regulated version of Vav-gene promoter for mouse transgenesis

Different bacteria-derived systems for regulatable gene expression have been developed for the use in mammalian cells and some were also successfully adopted for in vivo use in vertebrate model organisms. However, certain limitations apply to most of these systems, including leakiness of transgene expression, inefficient transgene silencing or activation, as well as limited tissue accessibility of transgene-inducers or their unfavourable pharmacokinetics. In this study, we evaluated the suitability of the lac-operon/lac-repressor (lacO/lacI) system for the regulation of the well-established Vav-gene promoter that allows inducible transgene expression in different haematopoietic lineages in mice. Using the fluorescence marker protein Venus as a reporter, we observed that the lacO/lacI system could be amended to modulate transgene-expression in haematopoietic cells. However, reporter expression was not uniform and the lacO elements introduced into the Vav-gene promoter only conferred limited repression and reversion of lacI-mediated gene silencing after administration of IPTG. Although further optimization of the system is required, the lacO-modified version of the Vav-gene promoter may be adopted as a tool where low basal gene-expression and limited transient induction of protein expression are desired, e.g. for the activation of oncogenes or transgenes that act in a dominant-negative manner.     

Controlled expression of the transcriptional activator gene virG in Agrobacterium tumefaciens by using the Escherichia coli lac promoter

The Agrobacterium VirG protein is normally expressed from two promoters in response to multiple stimuli, including plant-released phenolics (at promoter P1) and acidic growth media (at promoter P2). To simplify the analysis of vir gene induction, we sought to create Agrobacterium strains in which virG could be expressed in a controllable fashion. To study the possibility of using the lac promoter and repressor, we constructed a plasmid containing the lac promoter fused to the lacZ structural gene. A derivative of this plasmid containing the lacIq gene was also constructed. The plasmid not containing lacIq expressed high levels of beta-galactosidase. The plasmid containing lacIq expressed beta-galactosidase at very low levels in the absence of o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactoside (IPTG) and at moderate levels in the presence of IPTG. We also fused the lac promoter to a virG::lacZ translational fusion and found that IPTG elevated expression of this translational fusion to moderate levels, though not to levels as high as from the stronger of the two native virG promoters. Finally, the lac promoter was used to express the native virG gene in strains containing a virB::lacZ translational fusion. virB expression in this strain depended on addition of IPTG as well as the vir gene inducer acetosyringone. In a similar strain lacking lacIq, virB expression was greater than in a strain in which virG was expressed from its native promoters. Expression of virG from the lac promoter did not alter the acidic pH optimum for vir gene induction, indicating that the previously observed requirement for acidic media was not due solely to the need to induce P2.