A transcriptional terminator sequence in the prokaryotic transposable element IS1

The prokaryotic transposable element IS1 is known to exert a strong polar effect upon integration into an operon. To elucidate this polar effect, we constructed a plasmid which has an IS1 integrated between the 5' half of the tet gene for tetracycline resistance and the cat structural gene for chloramphenicol resistance. The cat gene is expressed by the tet promoter and the presence of IS1 in orientation I, in which the IS1 transposase genes insA and insB are in the same orientation as the cat gene, reduced the cat expression. By introducing deletions or insertions within the IS1 sequence, we were able to map a rho-dependent terminator TIS1A between the insA and insB genes. Translational interruption between these ins genes is important for TIS1A to be an active terminator.     

Activation of an enhancerless gene by chromosomal integration.

Expression of enhancerless (E-) and enhancer-containing (E+) genes that are chromosomally integrated was examined. An E- plasmid (pE-cat) containing a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (cat) gene linked to the simian virus 40 (SV40) early promoter or its E+ counterpart plasmid (pE+-cat) containing the SV40 enhancer was cotransfected into thymidine kinase (TK)-deficient L cells with a cloned tk gene. A number of TK+ transformants were isolated, and expression of the cointegrated cat gene in these cell lines was quantitatively determined by the assay of CAT activity. The results indicated unexpectedly that the E- cat gene was as actively expressed as the E+ cat gene. Analysis of CAT mRNA by primer extension indicated that the E- cat gene, as well as the E+ cat gene, was transcribed from the "native" initiation site contained in the SV40 early promoter region. The active expression of the E- cat gene was maintained in secondary TK+ transformants that arose by transfection with genomic DNA from the primary transformant. These results suggest that expression of the integrated E- cat gene is activated by endogenous enhancer elements.     

牛凝乳酶原基因在大肠杆菌中表达调控的研究

Shine-Dalgarno序列与起始密码子之问的距离与组成对凝乳酶原基因表达有明显的影响,可导致其表达水平有15倍之差。SD序列至ATG之间为15bp不利于表达,表达质粒中sD-ATG在7-11bp之间都有可能获得高效表达;但决定因素不是简单的长度,而是RBS附近可能的二级结构即△G的大小、SD序列及ATG中参与配对的碱基数目。将pTLC23中凝乳酶原cDNA3＇端端非翻译区插入终止密码子TGA与转录终止子rrnBT₁T₂之间适当位置可提高凝乳酶原基因的表达,这可能是因为这段序列能形成由53个碱基对和8个碱基组成的稳定的mRNA二级结构,起到转录终止子的作用,而一般认为串联终止子对终止转录更为有效。