Characterization of SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM Mutants with Altered Glutamine Synthetase Activity

A number of glutamine auxotrophs of Salmonella typhimurium were isolated and characterized genetically. Three of the mutations appear to be closely linked and are complemented by episomes carrying the glnA region of Escherichia coli. The lesions in these strains are approximately 20% linked by P1 transduction with a mutation in the rha gene, but are unlinked to ilv. Another mutation causing glutamine auxotrophy in strain JB674 is genetically distinct from the others. Strain JB674 grown in glucose medium containing ammonia as the nitrogen source has reduced levels of glutamine synthetase that is more adenylylated than in the parent strain, suggesting that the enzyme can not be deadenylylated normally. The lesion causing glutamine auxotrophy in JB674 lies in the region corresponding to the glnB and glnE genes affecting glutamine synthetase modification in Klebsiella areogenes. Four Gln+ revertants of JB674 have glutamine synthetase activities 4 to 6 fold higher than normal. One mutation causing this increased enzyme synthesis has been shown by three-factor crosses with the glnA mutations to lie near or within the glnA gene.     

Isolation and Characterization of Escherichia Coli Mutants with Altered Rates of Deletion Formation

Using site-specific mutagenesis in vitro we constructed a genetic system to detect mutants with altered rates of deletion formation between short repeated sequences in Escherichia coli. After in vivo mutagenesis with chemical mutagens and transposons, the system allowed the identification of mutants with either increased or decreased deletion frequencies. One mutational locus, termed mutR, that results in an increase in deletion formation, was studied in detail. The mutR gene maps at 38.5 min on the E. coli genetic map. Since the precise excision of many transposable elements is also mediated at short repeated sequences, we investigated the effects of the mutant alleles, as well as recA, on precise excision of the transposon Tn9. Neither mutR nor recA affect precise excision of the transposon Tn9, from three different insertions in lacI, whereas these alleles do affect other spontaneous deletions in the same system. These results indicate that deletion events leading to precise excision occur principally via a different pathway than other random spontaneous deletions. It is suggested that, whereas precise excision occurs predominantly via a pathway involving replication enzymes (for instance template strand slippage), deletions on an F'factor are stimulated by recombination enzymes.     

Detection and Characterization of Pediocin PA-1/AcH like Bacteriocin Producing Lactic Acid Bacteria

Fifty-five bacteriocinogenic lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from seven different sources. Eight isolates were found to produce pediocin PA-1 like bacteriocin as detected by pedB gene PCR and dot-blot hybridization. The culture filtrate (CF) activity of these isolates exhibited strong antilisterial, antibacterial activity against tested food-borne pathogens and LAB. The identification and genetic diversity among the selected LAB was performed by conventional morphological and molecular tools like RFLP, RAPD, and 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The isolates were identified as, 1 each of Pediococcus acidilactici Cb1, Lactobacillus plantarum Acr2, and Streptococcus equinus AC1, 2 were of P. pentosaceus Cb4 and R38, and other 3 were Enterococcus faecium Acr4, BL1, V3. Partial characterization of the bacteriocins revealed that the peptide was heat-stable, active at acidic to alkaline pH, inactivated by proteolytic enzymes, and had molecular weight around 4.6 kDa and shared the properties of class IIa pediocin-family. The bacteriocin production at different temperatures, pH, and salt concentrations was studied to investigate the optimal condition for application of these isolates as a starter culture or as a biopreservative in either acidic or non-acidic foods.     

Isolation and Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus Mutants Which Form Altered Cell Clusters

Staphylococcus aureus FDA 209P produces two extracellular bacteriolytic enzymes, 51-kDa endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (GL) and 62-kDa N-acetylmuramyl-l -alanine amidase (AM), both of which can disperse cell clusters. To characterize the physiological roles of these enzymes in vivo, mutants with altered autolysin activity were isolated, and their degree of cluster formation in broth culture was assessed. Bacteriolytic activities of GL and AM, produced and secreted from these mutants into the culture fluid and detected with activity gels, coincided well with the degree of cluster formation of the mutants. The mutants with little or no enzyme activity grew in clusters, whereas those with high activity grew as well-separated cocci, suggesting that these enzymes are involved in cell separation of S. aureus in vivo.     

Isolation and Characterization of Rifampin-Resistant and Streptolydigin-Resistant Mutants of Bacillus subtilis with Altered Sporulation Properties

Mutants of Bacillus subtilis with altered deoxyribonucleic-dependent ribonucleic acid polymerase activity have been isolated and characterized. These mutants, selected as strains resistant to rifampin or streptolydigin, demonstrate drug-resistant in vitro ribonucleic acid synthesis. Sporeforming ability and support of phage infection are altered in many of the mutants. Mutations to rifampin and streptolydigin resistance have been located on the B. subtilis chromosome and ordered relative to the markers cysA14 and str.     

Isolation and Partial Characterization of Escherichia coli Mutants with Altered Glycyl Transfer Ribonucleic Acid Synthetases

Isolates with mutations in glyS, the structural gene for glycyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase (GRS) in Escherichia coli, are frequently found among glycine auxotrophs. Extracts of glyS mutants have altered GRS activities. The mutants grow with normal growth rates in minimal media when high levels of glycine are provided. No other metabolite of a variety tested is capable of restoring normal growth. The glyS mutants fail to make ribonucleic acid (RNA) when depleted of exogenous glycine in strains which are RC(str) but do so when the cells are RC(rel). In contrast, biosynthetic mutants which are unable to synthesize glycine (glyA mutants) do not make RNA when deprived of glycine even if they are RC(rel); in this case, RNA is synthesized upon glycine deprivation only when the nucleic acid precursors made from glycine are provided in the medium. The level of serine transhydroxymethylase is unaltered in extracts of any of the glyS mutants, even though the level of charged tRNA(Gly) is at least 20-fold lower than that found in a prototrophic parent; this indicates that, if there is control over the synthesis of serine transhydroxymethylase, it is not modified by reduced levels of charging of the major species of tRNA(Gly).     

Production of Active Chimeric Pediocin AcH in Escherichia coli in the Absence of Processing and Secretion Genes from the Pediococcus pap Operon

Minimum requirements have been determined for synthesis and secretion of the Pediococcus antimicrobial peptide, pediocin AcH, in Escherichia coli. The functional mature domain of pediocin AcH (Lys⁺¹ to Cys⁺⁴⁴) is targeted into the E. coli sec machinery and secreted to the periplasm in active form when fused in frame to the COOH terminus of the secretory protein maltose-binding protein (MBP). The PapC-PapD specialized secretion machinery is not required for secretion of the MBP-pediocin AcH chimeric protein, indicating that in Pediococcus, PapC and PapD probably are required for recognition and processing of the leader peptide rather than for translocation of the mature pediocin AcH domain across the cytoplasmic membrane. The chimeric protein displays bactericidal activity, suggesting that the NH₂ terminus of pediocin AcH does not span the phospholipid bilayer in the membrane-interactive form of the molecule. However, the conserved Lys⁺¹-Tyr-Tyr-Gly-Asn-Gly-Val⁺⁷-sequence at the NH₂ terminus is important because deletion of this sequence abolishes activity. The secreted chimeric protein is released into the culture medium when expressed in a periplasmic leaky E. coli host. The MBP fusion-periplasmic leaky expression system should be generally advantageous for production and screening of the activity of bioactive peptides.     

Isolation and Partial Characterization of Temperature-Sensitive Escherichia coli Mutants with Altered Leucyl- and Seryl-Transfer Ribonucleic Acid Synthetases

Two temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli have been found in which the conditional growth is a result of a thermosensitive leucyl-transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase and seryl-tRNA synthetase, respectively. The corresponding genetic loci, leuS and serS, cotransduce with lip and serC, respectively. As a result of the mutationally altered leucyl-tRNA synthetase, some leucine-, valine-, and isoleucine-forming enzymes were derepressed. Thus, leucyl-tRNA synthetase is involved in the repression of the enzymes needed for the synthesis of branched-chain amino acids.     

Mutants with Altered Ca2+-Channel Properties in PARAMECIUM TETRAURELIA: Isolation, Characterization and Genetic Analysis

Dancers are a group of mutants in Paramecium tetraurelia whose Ca²⁺ current inactivates poorly and are likely to be defective in the structure of their Ca²⁺ channels. These mutants show prolonged backward swimming in response to K⁺ and Ba ²⁺ in the medium and were selected by this property in a galvanotactic trough. The dancer mutants are semidominant, and all isolated mutants belong to one complementation group; they are not allelic to any of the previously isolated behavioral mutants of P. tetraurelia. The phenotypic change from the homozygous parent to heterozygous F₁ generation takes three to five fissions. There is no evidence of a cytoplasmic factor capable of converting the dancer to the wild-type phenotype, as has been demonstrated in the mutants pawn and cnr. We suggest that the dancer locus is a structural gene for the Ca²⁺ channel.     

Isolation and Characterization of Clostridium butyricum DSM 5431 Mutants with Increased Resistance to 1,3-Propanediol and Altered Production of Acids

Clostridium butyricum mutants were isolated from the parent strain DSM 5431 after mutagenesis with N-methyl-N(prm1)-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and two selection procedures: osmotic pressure and the proton suicide method. Isolated mutants were more resistant to glycerol and to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) than was the wild type, and they produced more biomass. In batch culture on 62 g of glycerol per liter, the wild type produced more acetic acid than butyrate, with an acetate/butyrate ratio of 5.0, whereas the mutants produced almost the same quantities of both acids or more butyrate than acetate with acetate/butyrate ratios from 0.6 to 1.1. The total acid formation was higher in the wild-type strain. Results of analysis of key metabolic enzymatic activities were in accordance with the pattern of fermentation product formation: either the butyrate kinase activity increased or the acetate kinase activity decreased in cell extracts of the mutants. A decreased level of the hydrogenase and NADH-ferredoxin activities concomitant with an increase in ferredoxin-NAD(sup+) reductase activities supports the conclusion that the maximum percentage of NADH available and used for the formation of 1,3-PD was higher for the mutants (97 to 100%) than for the wild type (70%). In fed-batch culture, at the end of the fermentation (72 h for the wild-type strain and 80 to 85 h for the mutants), 44% more glycerol was consumed and 50% more 1,3-PD was produced by the mutants than by the wild-type strain.     

Isolation and Characterization of Rhodobacter capsulatus Mutants Affected in Cytochrome cbb3 Oxidase Activity

The facultative phototrophic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus contains only one form of cytochrome (cyt) c oxidase, which has recently been identified as a cbb₃-type cyt c oxidase. This is unlike other related species, such as Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Paracoccus denitrificans, which contain an additional mitochondrial-like aa₃-type cyt c oxidase. An extensive search for mutants affected in cyt c oxidase activity in R. capsulatus led to the isolation of at least five classes of mutants. Plasmids complementing them to a wild-type phenotype were obtained for all but one of these classes from a chromosomal DNA library. The first class of mutants contained mutations within the structural genes (ccoNOQP) of the cyt cbb₃ oxidase. Sequence analysis of these mutants and of the plasmids complementing them revealed that ccoNOQP in R. capsulatus is not flanked by the oxygen response regulator fnr, which is located upstream of these genes in other species. Genetic and biochemical characterizations of mutants belonging to this group indicated that the subunits CcoN, CcoO, and CcoP are required for the presence of an active cyt cbb₃ oxidase, and unlike in Bradyrhizobium japonicum, no active CcoN-CcoO subcomplex was found in R. capsulatus. In addition, mutagenesis experiments indicated that the highly conserved open reading frame 277 located adjacent to ccoNOQP is required neither for cyt cbb₃ oxidase activity or assembly nor for respiratory or photosynthetic energy transduction in R. capsulatus. The remaining cyt c oxidase-minus mutants mapped outside of ccoNOQP and formed four additional groups. In one of these groups, a fully assembled but inactive cyt cbb₃ oxidase was found, while another group had only extremely small amounts of it. The next group was characterized by a pleiotropic effect on all membrane-bound c-type cytochromes, and the remaining mutants not complemented by the plasmids complementing the first four groups formed at least one additional group affecting the biogenesis of the cyt cbb₃ oxidase of R. capsulatus.The gram-negative facultative photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus has a highly branched electron transport chain, resulting in its ability to grow under a wide variety of conditions (52). Its light-driven photosynthetic electron transfer pathway is a cyclic process between the photochemical reaction center and the ubihydroquinone cytochrome (cyt) c oxidoreductase (cyt bc₁ complex) (30). On the other hand, the respiratory electron transfer pathways of R. capsulatus are branched after the quinone pool and contain two different terminal oxidases, previously called cyt b₄₁₀ (cyt c oxidase) and cyt b₂₆₀ (quinol oxidase) (3, 27, 29, 53). The branch involving cyt c oxidase is similar to the mitochondrial electron transfer chain in that it depends on the cyt bc₁ complex and a c-type cyt acting as an electron carrier. The quinol oxidase branch circumvents the cyt bc₁ complex and the cyt c oxidase by taking electrons directly from the quinone pool to reduce O₂ to H₂O. The pronounced metabolic versatility, including the ability to grow under dark, anaerobic conditions (50, 52), makes these purple non-sulfur bacteria excellent model organisms for studying microbial energy transduction.Marrs and Gest (29) have reported the first R. capsulatus mutants which were defective in the respiratory electron transport chain. Of these mutants, M5 was incapable of catalyzing the α-naphthol plus N′,N′-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD) plus O₂→indophenol blue plus H₂O reaction (NADI reaction) and unable to grow by respiration (Res⁻), and hence was deficient in both terminal oxidases. Another mutant, M4, was also NADI⁻ but Res⁺ due to the presence of an active quinol oxidase. Marrs and Gest have also described two different spontaneous revertants of M5, called M6 and M7, which regained the ability to grow by respiration (29). M6 regained cyt c oxidase activity and became concurrently NADI⁺ and sensitive to low concentrations of cyanide and the cyt bc₁ inhibitor myxothiazol, but remained quinol oxidase⁻. On the other hand, M7 regained the quinol oxidase activity but remained cyt c oxidase⁻ (thus, NADI⁻ and resistant to myxothiazol, a phenotype identical to that of M4). All of these mutants remained proficient for phototrophic (Ps) growth.The cyt c oxidase of R. capsulatus has been purified previously and characterized as being a novel cbb₃-type cyt c oxidase without a Cu_A center (15). It is composed of at least a membrane-integral b-type cyt (subunit I [CcoN]) with a low-spin heme b and a high-spin heme b₃-Cu_B binuclear center, and two membrane-anchored c-type cyts (CcoO and CcoP). It has a unique active site that possibly confers a very high affinity for its substrate oxygen (49). The structural genes of this enzyme (ccoNOQP) have been sequenced recently from R. capsulatus 37b4 (45) and aligned to the partial amino acid sequence of the purified enzyme from R. capsulatus MT1131 (15). Although a ccoN mutant of strain 37b4 was reported to lack cyt c oxidase activity (45), the observed discrepancies between the amino acid sequence and the nucleotide sequence do not entirely exclude the possible presence of two similar cb-type cyt c oxidases in this species. The presence of a similar cyt c oxidase has also been demonstrated in several other bacteria, including P. denitrificans (9), R. sphaeroides (13), and Rhizobium spp. In the latter species, the homologs of ccoNOQP have been named fixNOQP (23, 34) and are required to support respiration under oxygen-limited growth during symbiotic nitrogen fixation (36).The biogenesis of a multisubunit protein complex containing several prosthetic groups, such as cyt cbb₃ oxidase, is likely to require many accessory proteins involved in various posttranslational events, including protein translocation, assembly, cofactor insertion, and maturation (46). Thus, insights into this important biological process, about which currently little is known, may be gained by searching for mutants defective in cyt c oxidase activity. In this work, we describe the isolation of such mutants and their molecular genetic characterization, including those already available, such as M4, M5, and M7G. These studies indicate that in R. capsulatus, gene products of at least five different loci are involved in the formation of an active cyt cbb₃ oxidase.     

Isolation and Characterization of Aminopeptidase-Deficient Lactobacillus bulgaricus Mutants

Lactobacillus bulgaricus CNRZ 397 is able to hydrolyze many amino-acyl- and dipeptidyl-β-naphthylamides. Analysis of heat inactivation kinetics, protease inhibitor effects, and the subcellular location of aminopeptidase (AP) activities from the parental strain and mutant derivatives dificient in alanyl- or leucyl-β-naphthylamide hydrolysis pointed out the existence of four APs. All mutants isolated were totally deficient in AP II, a cell wall metallo-enzyme with a broad substrate specificity but that is specifically responsible for lysyl-AP activity and is characterized by a molecular mass of 95,000 daltons. AP I and AP III are cytoplasmic enzymes that exhibit arginyl-AP activity; both enzymes are inducible during growth in rich peptide MRS medium (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.). The existence of a fourth AP (AP IV) that is involved in leucyl-AP activity was suggested. Moreover, we showed that X-prolyl-dipeptidyl-AP activity, which was not catalyzed by an AP, involved an enzyme(s) that is controlled by a regulatory mechanism that is common to that of AP II.     

乳酸抗性酵母的筛选及其生长特性的研究

以酿酒酵母 (saccharomycesceevisiae)单倍体YNN -2 7(αtep ura )为亲株 ,在含有 4 %乳酸的梯度平板上直接进行紫外线诱变处理 ,筛选到突变株YNN -2 7-2 4。通过对该突变株乳酸抗性产生原因分析、在含有不同浓度的乳酸和潮霉素B(hygromycinB)的YPDL和YPDLH培养基中的重复特性的研究发现 ,该突变株对乳酸和潮霉素B产生的抗性 ,不是因对环境条件的适应而产生 ,而是由基因突变所引起。与突变株YNN2 7-2 4相比 ,乳酸对亲株生长的影响在于延长了其生长的延迟期 ,而其生长速率没有发生改变。用Mini-photo 51 8测定供试菌株在生长过程中的吸光度 ( 660nm)以研究酵母菌的生长特性 ,是一种行之有效的方法 ,具有较高的灵敏度和较好的再现性。     

Isolation and Characterization of Sendai Virus Temperature-Sensitive Mutants

Ten temperature-sensitive mutants of Sendai virus, a paramyxovirus, were isolated and partially characterized. The mutants replicated in chicken embryo lung cells at 30 C, but not at 38 C; wild-type virus grew equally well at both temperatures. Complementation tests divided the mutants into seven groups. Six groups synthesized neither infectious virus nor RNA when incubated at 38 C from the beginning of infection. Temperature shift-up experiments demonstrated that three of these complementation groups were blocked in early steps required for RNA synthesis, but these gene functions were not needed throughout the replicative cycle. In contrast, the other three RNA-negative complementation groups were defective throughout the replicative cycle in functions required for virus-specific RNA synthesis. Only one mutant, which complemented all of the above, synthesized RNA but not infectious virus when placed at 38 C; the hemagglutinin of this mutant functioned only at the permissive temperature.     

Isolation and Characterization of Two Protein Isoforms with Antiviral Activity from Chenopodium album L Leaves

Two antiviral proteins (AVPs) named CAP-I and CAP-II isolated and purified from the leaves of Chenopodium album cv Pusa Bathua 1 were found to inhibit tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and sunnhemp rosette virus (SRV) infection on their respective host plants. The molecular weight of both the AVPs was found to be 24 kD. They were devoid of carbohydrate moiety and were highly basic with pI ～10.2. However, they differed with respect to amino acid composition and N-terminal sequence. They also differed with respect to IC₅₀ values, and CAP-I was found to be 2.5 fold more effective than CAP-II in inhibiting viral infection.     

Isolation and Characterization of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Mutants with Defects in the Induction of Flagellar Protein Synthesis after Deflagellation1,2

Amputating the flagella of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii stimulates increased synthesis of many flagellar proteins within 30 min. We have isolated a series of mutants which are defective in this stimulation, taking advantage of the fact that cells which cannot stimulate flagellar protein synthesis cannot regenerate flagella. More than a dozen mutants which have flagella, but cannot regenerate them after amputation, were isolated and studied by in vivo labeling to identify those non-regenerator mutants which were specifically defective in the induction of flagellar protein synthesis. Ten such mutants have been identified, and in each of them flagellar amputation does not stimulate the synthesis of any of the major flagellar proteins. At least four of the mutants display an interesting conditional phenotype. The synthesis of flagellar proteins after deflagellation is defective only in gametic cells; vegetative cells of these mutants are capable of flagellar protein synthesis after flagellar amputation.     

Isolation and Some Properties of Cell Envelope Altered Mutants of Escherichia coli

Mutants of Escherichia coli which have a defect in their permeability barrier were selected. The technique used was to employ a strain of E. coli having a deletion in the gene for lactose permease and to select for mutants which can grow on lactose at 40 C. Twenty such mutants were isolated and six of these were found to be more sensitive to actinomycin D, sodium deoxycholate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate than was the parental strain. They were also more sensitive to the antibiotics vancomycin and bacitracin, which inhibit peptidoglycan biosynthesis. These mutants were no more sensitive to several different colicins or phages than was the wild-type strain. One of the mutants selected by this technique has an abnormal morphology when grown on certain carbon sources in minimal medium, and this mutant is more extensively studied in the accompanying paper.     

Isolation and Characterization of NaCl-Sensitive Mutants of Caulobacter crescentus

An attempt to characterize Caulobacter crescentus genes important for the response to high concentrations of NaCl was initiated by the isolation of mutants defective in survival in the presence of 85 mM NaCl. A transposon Tn5 library was screened, and five strains which contained different genes disrupted by the transposon were isolated. Three of the mutants had the Tn5 in genes involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis, one had the Tn5 in the nhaA gene, which encodes a Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter, and one had the Tn5 in the ppiD gene, which encodes a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase. All the mutant strains showed severe growth arrest in the presence of 85 mM NaCl, but only the nhaA mutant showed decreased viability under these conditions. All the mutants except the nhaA mutant showed a slightly reduced viability in the presence of 40 mM KCl, but all the strains showed a more severe reduction in viability in the presence of 150 mM sucrose, suggesting that they are defective in responding to osmotic shock. The promoter regions of each disrupted gene were cloned in lacZ reporter vectors, and the pattern of expression in response to NaCl and sucrose was determined; this showed that both agents induced ppiD and nhaA gene expression but did not induce the other genes. Furthermore, the ppiD gene was not induced by heat shock, indicating that it does not belong to the σ³² regulon, as opposed to what was observed for its Escherichia coli homolog.