Cloning of the Escherichia coli K-12 hemB gene.

An Escherichia coli heme-requiring, heme-permeable mutant had no detectable 5-aminolevulinate dehydratase or porphobilinogen deaminase activities. The gene which complemented this mutation was cloned to a high-copy-number plasmid, and porphobilinogen deaminase activity was restored to normal levels, but the synthesis of 5-aminolevulinate dehydratase increased 20- to 30-fold. A maxicell procedure confirmed that the gene cloned was hemB.     

Frameshifting by eukaryotic ribosomes during expression of Escherichia coli release factor 2.

Normal translation of the gene for E. coli release factor 2 (RF-2) is characterized by a +1 frameshift event that occurs with 30-50% efficiency. Frameshifting on synthetic RF-2 mRNA by eukaryotic ribosomes has also been observed, even though they lack the capability to interact with the frameshift signal in the same manner as prokaryotic ribosomes. We have mutagenized the sequence of the RF-2 gene to eliminate the need for a frameshift, thereby allowing frameshifting efficiency to be measured by direct comparison of RF-2 production from the mutant with production from the wild-type. Measurements using this approach confirm that frameshifting by rabbit reticulocyte lysate ribosomes occurs at the frameshift region, but with a limited efficiency of approximately 0.4%.     

Cloning and location of the dgsA gene of Escherichia coli.

The dgsA locus of Escherichia coli was isolated on plasmids obtained from the library of L. Clarke and J. Carbon (Cell 9:91-99, 1976). Restriction fragment analysis and further subcloning demonstrated that the gene is located at kilobase 425 on the Bouché physical map of the terminus region (J. P. Bouché, J. Mol. Biol., 154:1-20, 1982). This corresponds to 35.2 min on the Bachmann genetic map (B. J. Bachmann, Microbiol. Rev. 47:180-230, 1983).     

Cloning and expression of the transhydrogenase gene of Escherichia coli.

Based on the rationale that Escherichia coli cells harboring plasmids containing the pnt gene would contain elevated levels of enzyme, we have isolated three clones bearing the transhydrogenase gene from the Clarke and Carbon colony bank. The three plasmids were subjected to restriction endonuclease analysis. A 10.4-kilobase restriction fragment which overlapped all three plasmids was cloned into the PstI site of plasmid pUC13. Examination of several deletion derivatives of the resulting plasmid and subsequent treatment with exonuclease BAL 31 revealed that enhanced transhydrogenase expression was localized within a 3.05-kilobase segment. This segment was located at 35.4 min in the E. coli genome. Plasmid pDC21 conferred on its host 70-fold overproduction of transhydrogenase. The protein products of plasmids carrying the pnt gene were examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of membranes from cells containing the plasmids. Two polypeptides of molecular weights 50,000 and 47,000 were coded by the 3.05-kilobase fragment of pDC11. Both polypeptides were required for expression of transhydrogenase activity.     

Conditionally lethal and recessive UGA-suppressor mutations in the prfB gene encoding peptide chain release factor 2 of Escherichia coli.

Strains carrying mutations in the prfB gene encoding peptide chain release factor 2 of Escherichia coli were isolated. prfB1, prfB2, and prfB3 were selected as suppressor mutations of a lacZ (UGA) mutation at 37 degrees C, one of which, prfB2, is temperature sensitive in growth. A prfB286 strain was selected as a conditionally lethal mutant which grows at 32 but not at 43 degrees C and was shown to have UGA-suppressor activity. All the mutations are recessive UGA-suppressors. These data indicate that release factor 2 is essential to E. coli growth and that all mutants isolated here trigger suppression of the UGA codon.     

Cloning the gene for vaccinia virus strain L-IVP growth factor in Escherichia coli]

The growth factor gene of the vaccinia virus LIVP strain has been primarily cloned in a 4.3 kbp long BamHI-EcoRI fragment and then subcloned in a 440 bp fragment. It was shown that clone 4 of the LIVP strain contains a single copy of this gene while the WR strain contains a repeat. The gene is located on a 4.3 kbp BamHI-EcoRI fragment but not on a 2.2 kbp fragment and has four nucleotide changes, three of which result in amino acid substitutions.     

Cloning and expression of human beta-defensin-2 gene in Escherichia coli

Human beta-defensin-2 (hBD-2), a small cationic peptide, exhibits a broad range of antimicrobial activity. It has been found to play important roles in innate and adaptive immune responses against microbial invasion. For the purposes of this study, hBD-2 gene was cloned from the lesions of human condyloma acuminatum. An expression vector was constructed and transformed into E. coli. hBD-2 was expressed as a fusion protein in both the soluble and insoluble forms, which was further confirmed by western blotting analysis.     

Frameshift autoregulation in the gene for Escherichia coli release factor 2: partly functional mutants result in frameshift enhancement.

The regulation of release factor 2 (RF-2) synthesis in Escherichia coli occurs, at least in part, through autoregulatory feedback exerted at a unique frameshifting step required during RF-2 translation. We have constructed fusions between the genes for RF-2 and E. coli trpE which make direct measurement of frameshifting efficiency possible since both products of regulation, the termination product and the frameshift product, are stable. The addition of purified RF-2 to in vitro expressions of these fusion genes was found to result in decreased frameshifting and increased termination at the regulation site. The frame-shifted trpE-RF-2 products synthesized from these fusions are unique with respect to their functional release factor activities; when tested in assays of two intermediate steps of translational termination, they were found to be partially active for the function of ribosome binding, but inactive for peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis (release). These are the first examples of release factor mutants selectively active for only one of these function. In vivo these chimeric proteins promote large increases in frameshifting at the RF-2 frameshift region, thereby reversing normal negative autoregulatory feedback and instead supporting fully efficient frameshifting in their own synthesis. This activity provides new evidence for the importance of ribosomal pausing in directing efficient frameshifting at the RF-2 frameshift region.     

Cloning of the ethidium efflux gene from Escherichia coli

The gene specifying the ethidium efflux system of Escherichia coli has been cloned on a 3.2 kbp HindIII fragment and located on a 1.2 kbp fragment within this. Cross-resistance studies indicate that the system has a broad specificity for monovalent cations and the gene shows no hybridisation with similar genes found in Staphylococci.     

Cloning of the gene for Escherichia coli glutamyl-tRNA synthetase

The structural gene for the glutamyl-tRNA synthetase of Escherichia coli has been cloned in E. coli strain JP1449, a thermosensitive mutant altered in this enzyme. Ampicillin-resistant and tetracycline-sensitive thermoresistant colonies were selected following the transformation of JP1449 by a bank of hybrid plasmids containing fragments from a partial Sau3A digest of chromosomal DNA inserted into the BamHI site of pBR322. One of the selected clones, HS7611, has a level of glutamyl-tRNA synthetase activity more than 20 times higher than that of a wild-type strain. The overproduced enzyme has the same molecular weight and is as thermostable as that of a wild-type strain, indicating that the complete structural gene is present in the insert. These characteristics were lost by curing this clone of its plasmid with acridine orange, and were transferred with high efficiency to the mutant strain JP1449 by transformation with the purified plasmid. A physical map of the plasmid, which contains an insert of about 2.7 kb in length, is presented.     

Cloning and expression of the Escherichia coli K-12 sad gene.

The Escherichia coli K-12 sad gene, which encodes an NAD-dependent succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase, was cloned into a high-copy-number vector. Minicells carrying a sad+ plasmid produced a 55,000-dalton peptide, the probable sad gene product.     

Cloning and characterization of the gene for Escherichia coli seryl-tRNA synthetase.

Seryl-tRNA synthetase is the gene product of the serS locus in Escherichia coli. Its gene has been cloned by complementation of a serS temperature sensitive mutant K28 with an E. coli gene bank DNA. The resulting clones overexpress seryl-tRNA synthetase by a factor greater than 50 and more than 6% of the total cellular protein corresponds to the enzyme. The DNA sequence of the complete coding region and the 5'- and 3' untranslated regions was determined. Protein sequence comparison of SerRS with all available aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase sequences revealed some regions of significant homology particularly with the isoleucyl- and phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetases from E. coli.     

Cloning the spoT gene of Escherichia coli: identification of the spoT gene product.

We have isolated five specialized transducing lambda bacteriophages (lambda dpyrE spoT) carrying the pyrE and spoT genes of Escherichia coli. A fragment from one of these phages was used as the source of DNA to clone the spoT and pyrE genes on a multicopy plasmid, pBR322. Insertions and deletions in this plasmid were obtained. These plasmids were used to transform a minicell-producing strain, and the gene products synthesized were determined. Our experiments demonstrate that the spoT and pyrE genes are separated by about 4 magadaltons and suggest that the spoT gene product is a protein whose molecular weight is 80,000. The strain in which the spoT+ allele is carried on a plasmid produced nine times more spoT gene activity than a normal spoT+ strain when assayed in crude extracts. This strain was used to prepare partially purified gene product, guanosine 5'-diphosphate, 3'-diphosphate pyrophosphatase. The enzyme has the following characteristics. (i) It hydrolyzes pyrophosphate from the 5'-pyrophosphate of guanosine 5'-diphosphate, 3'-diphosphate, yielding GDP and pyrophosphate. (ii) Its activity is strongly stimulated by Mn2+ and slightly stimulated by salt. (iii) Its activity is inhibited by uncharged tRNA. There are also two additional activities in the cell extract which degrade guanosine in 5'-diphosphate, 3'-diphosphate in vitro but which are not specified by the spoT gene.     

Cloning and analysis of the sfrB (sex factor repression) gene of Escherichia coli K-12.

The sfrB gene of Escherichia coli K-12 and the rfaH gene of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 are homologous, controlling expression of the tra operon of F and the rfa genes for lipopolysaccharide synthesis. We have determined a restriction map of the 19-kilobase ColE1 plasmid pLC14-28 which carries the sfrB gene of E. coli. After partial Sau3A digestion of pLC14-28, we cloned a 2.5-kilobase DNA fragment into the BamHI site of pBR322 to form pKZ17. pKZ17 complemented mutants of the sfrB gene of E. coli and the rfaH gene of S. typhimurium for defects of both the F tra operon and the rfa genes. pKZ17 in minicells determines an 18-kilodalton protein not determined by pBR322. A Tn5 insertion into the sfrB gene causes loss of complementing activity and loss of the 18-kilodalton protein in minicells, indicating that this protein is the sfrB gene product. These data indicate that the sfrB gene product is a regulatory element, since the single gene product elicits the expression of genes for many products for F expression and lipopolysaccharide synthesis.     

Cloning of aacC2 gene from a clinical strain of Escherichia coli

The 2.3-kb Hind-III fragment containing the gentamicin resistance aacC2 gene was cloned from a clinical strain of E. coli with the aminoglycoside resistance pattern indicative of ++aminoglycoside acetyltransferase AAC (3)-II. An approach based on the phenomenon of the replicon dissociation of high molecular weight plasmids was applied. The restriction map of the cloned fragment was constructed. It was shown by subcloning the fragment that the aacC2 gene was localized within the 1.1-kb Alu I-Sal I fragment.     

大肠杆菌ubiC基因的克隆及序列分析

研究以克隆得到正确序列的大肠杆菌ubiC基因目的,实验通过PCR方法从大肠杆菌基因组中扩增得到了ubiC基因,扩增产物克隆到pUC118载体,转化大肠杆菌JM109,DNA序列分析结果表明克隆得到的大肠杆菌ubiC基因碱基序列正确。     

Cloning and constitutive expression of the N-acetylneuraminate lyase gene of Escherichia coli.

The N-acetylneuraminate (NANA) lyase (EC 4.1.3.3) gene from Escherichia coli was self-cloned in E. coli. Transformants were selected by complementation of a NANA lyase-deficient E. coli strain. One clone was found to produce NANA lyase, and it contained a recombinant plasmid, pNAL1, with a 9.0-kilobase HindIII insert. The cloning of the NANA lyase gene resulted in the change from inducible to constitutive production of the enzyme. The level of expression of the NANA lyase gene in E. coli(pNAL1) clones was two- to three-fold higher than that in the fully induced wild-type strains.