N6-methyldeoxyadenosine residues at specific sites decrease the activity of the E1A promoter of adenovirus type 12 DNA

The activity of eukaryotic promoters is highly sensitive to site-specific modifications by DNA methylations. We have used the E1A promoter of adenovirus type 12 (Ad12) DNA to investigate the effects of methylations at different promoter sites on its activity. The chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene has served as an activity indicator. Activity of the E1A promoter is lost or markedly decreased by deoxycytidine methylation of two HpaII (5'-C-C-G-G-3') or seven HhaI (5'-G-C-G-C-3') sites upstream from the 3' located T-A-T-A signal. There are two T-A-T-A signals in the E1A promoter of adenovirus type 12 DNA, one T-A-T-T-A-T sequence starting at nucleotide 276 (5' located), a second T-A-T-T-T-A-A sequence starting at nucleotide 414 (3' located). Deoxycytidine methylations at two AluI (5'-A-G-C-T-3') sites downstream from the 5' located T-A-T-A signal have no effect on promoter activity. When one EcoRI (5'-G-A-A-T-T-C-3') or one TaqI (5'-T-C-G-A-3') sequence at 281 base-pairs upstream or 61 base-pairs downstream from the 5' located E1A T-A-T-A signal, respectively, is deoxyadenosine methylated, the promoter becomes inactive. Deoxyadenosine methylation at one MboI (5'-G-A-T-C-3') site, which is located 127 nucleotides downstream from the 5' located T-A-T-A signal, fails to decrease E1A promoter activity. There is no conspicuous anatomical relation of any of these sites to the two presumptive enhancer sequences in the E1A promoter. We conclude that 5-deoxymethylcytidine or N6-methyldeoxyadenosine residues have to be introduced at highly specific promoter sites to inactivate the promoter. These sites are probably different for different promoters.     

The N-terminal and C-terminal portions of NifV are encoded by two different genes in Clostridium pasteurianum.

The nifV gene products from Azotobacter vinelandii and Klebsiella pneumoniae share a high level of primary sequence identity and are proposed to catalyze the synthesis of homocitrate. While searching for potential nif (nitrogen fixation) genes within the genomic region located downstream from the nifN-B gene of Clostridium pasteurianum, we observed two open reading frames (ORFs) whose deduced amino acid sequences exhibit nonoverlapping sequence identity to different portions of the nifV gene products from A. vinelandii and K. pneumoniae. Conserved regions were located between the C-terminal 195 amino acid residues of the first ORF and the C-terminal portion of the nifV gene product and between the entire sequence of the second ORF (269 amino acid residues) and the N-terminal portion of the nifV gene product. We therefore designated the first ORF nifV omega and the second ORF nifV alpha. The deduced amino acid sequences of nifV omega and nifV alpha were also found to have sequence similarity when compared with the primary sequence of the leuA gene product from Salmonella typhimurium, which encodes alpha-isopropylmalate synthase. Marker rescue experiments were performed by recombining nifV omega and nifV alpha from C. pasteurianum, singly and in combination, into the genome of an A. vinelandii mutant strain which has an insertion and a deletion mutation located within its nifV gene. A NifV+ phenotype was obtained only when both the C. pasteurianum nifV omega and nifV alpha genes were introduced into the chromosome of this mutant strain. These results suggest that the nifV omega and nifV alpha genes encode separate domains, both of which are required for homocitrate synthesis in C. pasteurianum.     

The significance and effect of tandem repeats within the Mycobacterium tuberculosis leuA gene on alpha-isopropylmalate synthase

The 57-bp tandem repeats located in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis leuA gene code for the alpha-isopropylmalate synthase (alpha-IPMS). It is unique to this pathogen. It was previously demonstrated that the leuA-coding sequence Rv3710, containing the tandem repeats, can be translated to an active alpha-IPMS. The objective of the present study was to investigate the significance and effect of the two 57-bp tandem repeats upon gene expression and the general properties of alpha-IPMS. The putative M. tuberculosis H37Rv leuA gene with and without the tandem repeats was cloned by PCR and expressed in an Escherichia coli host. The enzyme product was studied for general properties, comparing that from a native leuA gene containing two repeats and that from the 57-bp tandem repeats deletion mutant. Upon deletion of the two 57-bp tandem repeats, the expression level of leuA from M. tuberculosis H37Rv was comparable with that of the native form. The general properties of the two types of enzymes were similar. They were both functional with the same range of optimal temperature and optimal pH for activity and with similar enzyme stability. Deletion of the repeats had no detectable effect on leuA expression level or the general properties of the enzyme product.     

Genetics of leucine biosynthesis in Bacillus megaterium QM B1551.

Genes involved in the biosynthesis of leucine have been mapped in Bacillus megaterium QM B1551, using transducing phage MP13. Mutations were designated leuA, leuB, or leuC on the basis of enzyme assays. Two mutant strains were deficient in the enzyme activities of leuA (alpha-isopropylmalate synthase) and leuC (beta-isopropylmalate dehydrogenase) and so may contain polar mutations. Fine-structure transduction mapping established the gene order leuC-leuB-leuA-ilv-hem-phe. The orientation of the leu genes to the ilv gene is the same as in Bacillus subtilis, but the relationship in respect to two other linked markers, hem and phe, differs.