DNA deoxyribophosphodiesterase of Escherichia coli is associated with exonuclease I.

DNA deoxyribophosphodiesterase (dRpase) of E. coli catalyzes the release of deoxyribose-phosphate moieties following the cleavage of DNA at an apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) site by either an AP endonuclease or AP lyase. Exonuclease I is a single-strand specific DNA nuclease which affects the expression of recombination and repair pathways in E. coli. We show here that a major dRpase activity in E. coli is associated with the exonuclease I protein. Highly purified exonuclease I isolated from an over-producing stain contains high levels of dRpase activity; it catalyzes the release of deoxyribose-5-phosphate from an AP site incised with endonuclease IV of E. coli and the release of 4-hydroxy-2-pentenal-5-phosphate from an AP site incised by the AP lyase activity of endonuclease III of E. coli. A strain containing a deletion of the sbcB gene showed little dRpase activity; the activity could be restored by transformation of the strain with a plasmid containing the sbcB gene. The dRpase activity isolated from an overproducing stain was increased 70-fold as compared to a normal sbcB+ strain (AB3027). These results suggest that the dRpase activity may be important in pathways for both DNA repair and recombination.     

Escherichia coli Fpg protein and UvrABC endonuclease repair DNA damage induced by methylene blue plus visible light in vivo and in vitro.

pBR322 plasmid DNA was treated with methylene blue plus visible light (MB-light) and tested for transformation efficiency in Escherichia coli mutants defective in either formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (Fpg protein) and/or UvrABC endonuclease. The survival of pBR322 DNA treated with MB-light was not significantly reduced when transformed into either fpg-1 or uvrA single mutants compared with that in the wild-type strain. In contrast, the survival of MB-light-treated pBR322 DNA was greatly reduced in the fpg-1 uvrA double mutant. The synergistic effect of these two mutations was not observed in transformation experiments using pBR322 DNA treated with methyl methanesulfonate, UV light at 254 nm, or ionizing radiation. In vitro experiments showed that MB-light-treated pBR322 DNA is a substrate for the Fpg protein and UvrABC endonuclease. The number of sites sensitive to cleavage by either Fpg protein or UvrABC endonuclease was 10-fold greater than the number of apurinic-apyrimidinic sites indicated as Nfo protein (endonuclease IR)-sensitive sites. Seven Fpg protein-sensitive sites per PBR322 molecule were required to produce a lethal hit when transformed into the uvrA fpg-1 mutant. These results suggest that MB-light induces DNA base modifications which are lethal and that these modifications are repaired by Fpg protein and UvrABC endonuclease in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, one of the physiological functions of Fpg protein might be to repair DNA base damage induced by photosensitizers and light.     

Methyl methane sulfonate-sensitive mutant of Escherichia coli deficient in an endonuclease specific for apurinic sites in deoxyribonucleic acid.

A methyl methane sulfonate (MMS)-sensitive mutant of Escherichia coli AB 1157 was obtained by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine treatment. The mutant strain, AB 3027, is defective both in endonuclease activity for apurinic sites in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and in DNA polymerase I, as shown by direct enzyme assays. Derivative strains, which retained the deficiency in endonuclease activity for apurinic sties (approximately 10% of the wild-type enzyme level) but had normal DNA polymerase I activity, were obtained by P1-mediated transduction (strain NH5016) or by selection of revertants to decreased MMS sensitivity. These endonuclease-deficient strains are more MMS-sensitive than wild-type strains. Revertants of these deficients strains to normal MMS resistance were isolated. They had increased levels of the endonuclease activity but did not attain wild-type levels. The data suggest that endonuclease for apurinic sites is active in repair of lesions introduced in DNA as a consequence of MMS treatment. Two different endonucleases that specifically attack DNA containing apurinic sites arepresented in E coli K-12. A heat-labile activity, sensitive to inhibition by ethylenediaminetetraacetate, accounts for 90% of the total endonuclease activity for apurinic sties in crude cell extracts. The residual 10% is due to a more heat-resistant activity, refractory to ethylenediaminetetraacetate inhibition. The AB3027 and NH5016 strains have normal amounts of the latter endonuclease but no or very little of the former activity.     

Endonuclease-sensitive DNA modifications induced by acetone and acetophenone as photosensitizers.

Repair endonucleases, viz. endonuclease III, formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (FPG protein), endonuclease IV, exonuclease III and UV endonuclease, were used to analyse the modifications induced in bacteriophage PM2 DNA by 333 nm laser irradiation in the presence of acetone or acetophenone. In addition to pyrimidine dimers sensitive to UV endonuclease, 5,6-dihydropyrimidines (sensitive to endonuclease III) and base modifications sensitive to FPG protein were generated. The level of the last in the case of acetone was 50% and in the case of acetophenone 9% of the level of pyrimidine dimers. HPLC analysis of the bases excised by FPG protein revealed that least some of them were 8-hydroxyguanine (7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine). In the damage induced by direct excitation of DNA at 254 nm, which was analysed for comparison, the number of FPG protein-sensitive base modifications was only 0.6% of that of the pyrimidine dimers. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that the formation of FPG protein-sensitive modifications did not involve singlet oxygen, as the damage was not increased in D2O as solvent. Hydroxyl radicals, superoxide and H2O2 were also not involved, since the relative number of single strand breaks and of sites of base loss (AP sites) was much lower than in the case of DNA damage induced by hydroxyl radicals and since the presence of SOD or catalase had no effect on the extent of the damage. However, the mechanism did involve an intermediate that was much more efficiently quenched by azide ions than the triplet excited carbonyl compounds and which was possibly a purine radical. Together, the data indicate that excited triplet carbonyl compounds react with DNA not only by triplet-triplet energy transfer yielding pyrimidine dimers, but also by electron transfer yielding preferentially base modifications sensitive to FPG protein, which include 8-hydroxyguanine.     

Up-regulation of yggG promotes the survival of Escherichia coli cells containing Era-1 mutant protein

Era is a highly conserved GTPase essential for bacterial growth. Using a digoxigenin-labeled Era protein to screen a phage expression library of Escherichia coli genomic DNA, yggG, a gene that encodes a putative zinc metalloprotease was isolated and characterized. The deduced amino acid sequence of YggG showed high degrees of similarity to some reported heat shock proteins. In this study, the direct interaction between Era and YggG was confirmed, and it was found that the yggG gene, encoding a 25 kDa heat shock protein, was up-regulated at the mRNA level in partially defective Era GTPase mutants (era-1) and in E. coli cells overproducing Era-1. The delta yggG strain displayed the same growth rate as wild-type strain under normal growth conditions and after heat shock. Overexpression of Era-1 in the delta yggG strain resulted in a stronger growth-inhibitory effect than that in the wild-type strain, while coexpression of YggG partially restored the bacterial growth rate. The results indicated that YggG expression is significantly increased in response to stress caused by the Era-1 mutant protein in E. coli, thus promoting the growth of E. coli.     

Rapid method for altering bacterial ribosome-binding sequences for overexpression of proteins in Escherichia coli.

In an Escherichia coli expression system, two genes, one from an anaerobic intestinal bacterium and one from E. coli, were overexpressed following the alteration of ribosome-binding (Shine-Dalgarno) sequences. For both genes, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to modify the ribosome-binding sequence and, at the same time, provide restriction endonuclease sequences at each end of the gene. These restriction endonuclease sequences were used for inserting the DNA into the E. coli plasmid vector pGEM2, which has the T7 promoter upstream from its multiple cloning sites. Each chimeric plasmid, made by ligating the PCR product into pGEM2, was transformed into E. coli strain HMS174(DE3) which, when induced, produces T7 RNA polymerase for regulated overexpression. The gene isolated from the anaerobic intestinal bacterium, a 27-kDa polypeptide gene from Eubacterium sp. strain 12708, when expressed using this system, produced about one-third of the total cell protein as measured in Coomassie-stained protein gels and confirmed by Western blots with rabbit antibody. The E. coli enzyme, a 28.4-kDa tRNA methylation enzyme, was increased fivefold in activity of cell extracts over that of the best previous strain.     

Repair of UV-irradiated plasmid DNA in mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli deficient in repair of pyrimidine dimers

The repair of in vitro UV-irradiated DNA of plasmid pBB29 was studied in excision defective yeast mutants rad1, rad2, rad3, rad4, rad10 and in Escherichia coli mutants uvr- and recA-, by measuring the cell transformation frequency. Rad2, rad3, rad4, and rad10 mutants could repair plasmid DNA despite their inability to repair nuclear DNA, whereas the reduced ability of rad1 mutant for plasmid DNA repair demonstrated alone the same dependence on the host functions that are needed for nuclear DNA repair. In E. coli the repair of UV-irradiated plasmid DNA is carried out only by the excision-repair system dependent on uvr genes. Treatment of UV-irradiated plasmid DNA with UV endonuclease from Micrococcus luteus greatly enhances the efficiency of transformation of E. coli uvr- mutants. Similar treatment with cell-free extracts of yeast rad1 mutant or wild-type strains as well as with nuclease BaL31, despite their ability for preferential cutting of UV damaged DNA, showed no influence on cell transformation.     

DNA damage by oxygen radicals and excited state species: a comparative study using enzymatic probes in vitro

Repair enzyme-containing extracts from a variety of cell types are used to analyse and compare DNA damage induced by oxygen radicals and excited molecules. The differing potentials of these extracts for recognising DNA damage leads to characteristic DNA damage profiles after treatment with superoxide (xanthine/xanthine oxidase), gamma-rays, chemically generated singlet oxygen, photosensitizers (rose bengal, methylene blue), UV254 and a 1,2-dioxetane. Three different types of damage profiles are distinguished and assigned to the predominant action of hydroxyl radicals, singlet oxygen or to the photoexcitation of thymine residues. The method applied in this study allows the analysis of DNA damage and the identification or exclusion of the participation of different ultimate reactive species without chemical identification of the lesions.     

Gene responsible for protecting Escherichia coli from sodium dodecyl sulfate and toluidine blue plus light.

Escherichia coli cells were killed by visible light irradiation in the presence of the photosensitizing dye, toluidine blue. Two uvrB mutant strains of E. coli K-12 (AB1885 and N3-1) were much more sensitive than the isogenic uvrA and uvrC strains to treatment with toluidine blue plus light, suggesting that the uvrB+ gene product was involved in repair of DNA damage induced by the treatment. The uvrB+ gene cloned in a high- or low-copy-number plasmid was transformed into the uvrB strain (AB1885). Although all the transformants showed the same resistance as its wild-type strain (AB1157) to UV irradiation, they were as sensitive as AB1885 was to treatment with toluidine blue plus light. The two uvrB strains were more sensitive to sodium dodecyl sulfate than the other strains, suggesting that these strains had a defect in the cell surface. A sodium dodecyl sulfate-resistant revertant obtained from AB1885 was more resistant than AB1885 was to treatment with toluidine blue plus light. The two uvrB strains (AB1885 and N3-1) appear to have a defective gene (tentatively called dvl) different from uvrB. Its map position was around 7 min on the E. coli map.     

Oxidative DNA base damage induced by singlet oxygen and photosensitization: recognition by repair endonucleases and mutagenicity

We have analyzed the recognition by various repair endonucleases of DNA base modifications induced by three oxidants, viz. [4-(tert-butyldioxycarbonyl)benzyl]triethylammonium chloride (BCBT), a photochemical source of tert-butoxyl radicals, disodium salt of 1,4-etheno-2,3-benzodioxin-1,4-dipropanoic acid (NDPO(2)), a chemical source of singlet oxygen, and riboflavin, a type-I photosensitizer. The base modifications induced by BCBT, which were previously shown to be mostly 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-oxoGua) residues, were recognized by Fpg and Ogg1 proteins, but not by endonuclease IIII, Ntg1 and Ntg2 proteins. In the case of singlet oxygen induced damage, 8-oxoGua accounted for only 35% of the base modifications recognized by Fpg protein. The remaining Fpg-sensitive modifications were not recognized by Ogg1 protein and relatively poor by endonuclease III, but they were relatively good substrates of Ntg1 and Ntg2. In the case of the damage induced by photoexcited riboflavin, the fraction of Fpg-sensitive base modifications identified as 8-oxoGua was only 23%. In contrast to the damage induced by singlet oxygen, the remaining lesions were not only recognized by Ntg1 and Ntg2 proteins and (relatively poor) by endonuclease III, but also by Ogg1 protein. The analysis of the mutations observed after transfection of modified plasmid pSV2gpt into Escherichia coli revealed that all agents induced near exclusively GC-->TA and GC-->CG transversions, the numbers of which were correlated with the numbers of 8-oxoGua residues and Ntg-sensitive modifications, respectively. In conclusion, both singlet oxygen and the type-I photosensitizer riboflavin induce predominantly oxidative guanine modifications other than 8-oxoGua, which most probably give rise to GC-->CG transversions and in which eukaryotic cells are substrates of Ntg1 and Ntg2 proteins.     

Recognition of oxidized abasic sites by repair endonucleases.

The recognition of 'regular' and 'oxidized' sites of base loss (AP sites) in DNA by various AP endonucleases was compared. Model substrates with regular AP sites (resulting from mere hydrolysis of the glycosylic bond) were produced by damaging bacteriophage PM2 DNA by exposure to low pH; those with AP sites oxidized at the C-4'- and C-1'-position of the sugar moiety by exposure to Fe(III)-bleomycin in the presence of H2O2 and to Cu(II)-phenanthroline in the presence of H2O2 and ethanol, respectively. The results confirmed that AP sites-together with single-strand breaks-are indeed the predominant type of DNA modification in all three cases. For the recognition of 4'-oxidized AP sites, a 400-fold higher concentration of Escherichia coli exonuclease III and between 5-fold and 50-fold higher concentrations of bacteriophage T4 endonuclease V, E. coli endonuclease III and E. coli FPG protein were required than for the recognition of regular AP sites. In contrast, the recognition of 4'-oxidized AP sites by E. coli endonuclease IV was effected by 4-fold lower concentrations than needed for regular AP sites. 1'-oxidized AP sites (generated by activated Cu(II)-phenanthroline) were recognized by endonuclease IV and exonuclease III only slightly (3-fold and 13-fold, respectively) less efficiently than regular AP sites. In contrast, there was virtually no recognition of 1'-oxidized AP sites by the enzymes which cleave at the 3' side of AP sites (T4 endonuclease V, endonuclease III and FPG protein). The described differences were exploited for the analysis of the DNA damage induced by hydroxyl radicals, generated by ionizing radiation or Fe(III)-nitrilotriacetate in the presence of H2O2. The results indicate that both regular and 1'-oxidized AP sites represent only minor fractions of the AP sites induced by hydroxyl radicals.     

Use of an Escherichia coli mutant strain permits measurement of single-stranded apurinic-apyrimidinic endonuclease in crude extracts: studies with untransformed cells and cells transformed with plasmids containing the uvrC gene.

We have constructed a strain of Escherichia coli that is defective in exonuclease VII and uracil-DNA glycosylase activities. This strain (xse ung) facilitates the quantitation of single-stranded apurinic-apyrimidinic endonuclease activity in crude extracts. Quantitative comparisons of single-stranded apurinic-apyrimidinic endonuclease activity under conditions in which uvrC protein is overexpressed showed no differences, suggesting that single-stranded apurinic-apyrimidinic endonuclease and uvrC protein are probably distinct.     

Isolation of BamHI variants with reduced cleavage activities

Derivation of the bamhIR sequence (Brooks, J. E., Nathan, P.D., Landry, D., Sznyter, L.A., Waite-Rees, P., Ives, C. C., Mazzola, L. M., Slatko, B. E., and Benner, J. S. (1991) Nucleic Acids Res., in press), the gene coding for BamHI endonuclease, has facilitated construction of an Escherichia coli strain that overproduces BamHI endonuclease (W. E. Jack, L. Greenough, L. F. Dorner, S. Y. Xu, T. Strezelecka, A. K. Aggarwal, and I. Schildkraut, submitted for publication). As expected, low-level constitutive expression of the bamhIR gene in E. coli from the Ptac promotor construct is lethal to the host unless the bamHIM gene, which encodes the BamHI methylase, is also expressed within the cell. We identified four classes of BamHI endonuclease variants deficient in catalysis by selecting for survival of a host deficient for bamHIM gene, transformed with mutagenized copies of the bamhIR gene, and then screening the surviving cell extracts for DNA cleavage and binding activities. Class I variants (G56S, G91S/T153I, T114I, G130R, E135K, T153I, T157I, G194D) displayed 0.1-1% of the wild-type cleavage activity; class II variant (D94N) lacked cleavage activity but retained wild-type DNA binding specificity; class III variants (E77K, E113K) lacked cleavage activity but bound DNA more tightly; class IV variants (G56D, G90D, G91S, R122H, R155H) lacked both binding and cleavage activities. Variants with residual cleavage activities induced the E. coli SOS response and thus are presumed to cleave chromosomal DNA in vivo. We conclude that Glu77, Asp94, and Glu113 residues are essential for BamHI catalytic function.     

Action of Escherichia coli and human 5'----3' exonuclease functions at incised apurinic/apyrimidinic sites in DNA.

The 5'----3' exonuclease activity of E. coli DNA polymerase I and a related enzyme activity in mammalian cell nuclei, DNase IV, are unable to catalyse the excision of free deoxyribose-phosphate from apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites incised by an AP endonuclease. Instead, the sugar phosphate residue is slowly released as part of a short oligonucleotide. These products have been characterised as dimers and trimers by comparison of their retention time on reverse-phase HPLC with reference compounds prepared by acid depurination of a dinucleotide, trinucleotide and tetranucleotide containing a 5'-terminal dAMP residue. The similar mode of action of these enzymes at 5'-incised AP sites provides an explanation for the minority of repair patches larger than one nucleotide observed when AP sites are repaired by E. coli and mammalian cell extracts in vitro and strengthens the functional analogy between the two activities.     

Metagenomic DNA fragments that affect Escherichia coli mutational pathways

A multicopy cloning approach was used to search for metagenomic DNA fragments that affect Escherichia coli mutational pathways. Soil metagenomic expression libraries were constructed with DNA samples prepared directly from soil samples collected from the UCLA Botanical Garden. Using frameshift mutator screening, we obtained a total of 26 unique metagenomic fragments that stimulate frameshift rates in an E. coli wild-type host. Mutational enhancer strains such as an ndk-deficient strain and a temperature sensitive mutS strain (mutS60) were used to further verify the mutator phenotype. We found that the presence of multiple copies of certain types of metagenomic DNA sequence repeats cause general genome instability in the wild-type E. coli host and the effect can be suppressed by overproducing a DNA mismatch component MutL. In addition, we identified nine metagenomic mutator genes (designated as smu genes) that encode proteins that have not been linked to mutator phenotypes prior to this study including a putative RNA methyltransferase Smu10A. The strain overproducing Smu10A displays one prominent base substitution hotspot in the rpoB gene, which coincides with the base substitution hotspot we have observed in cells that are partially deficient in the proofreading function carried out by the DNA polymerase III epsilon subunit. Based on the structural conservation of DNA replication/recombination/repair machineries among microorganisms, this approach would allow us to both identify new mutational pathways in E. coli and to find genes involved in DNA replication, recombination or DNA repair from vast unculturable microbes.     

Cloning of a lactate dehydrogenase gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum B643 and expression in Escherichia coli

A lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene of Clostridium acetobutylicum B643 was cloned on two recombinant plasmids, pPC37 and pPC58, that were selected by complementation of Escherichia coli PRC436 (acd), a fermentation-defective mutant that does not grow anaerobically on glucose. E. coli PRC436(pPC37) and PRC436(pPC58) grew anaerobically and fermented glucose to mostly lactate. When pPC37 and pPC58 were transformed into E. coli FMJ39 (ldh pfl), an LDH-deficient strain, the resulting strains grew anaerobically on glucose and produced lactate. Crude extracts of E. coli FMJ39(pPC37) and FMJ39(pP58) contained high LDH activity only when assayed for pyruvate reduction to lactate, and the LDH activity was activated 15- to 30-fold by the addition of fructose 1,6-diphosphate (FDP). E. coli FMJ39 had no detectable LDH activity, and E. coli LDH from a wild-type strain was not activated by FDP. Maxicell analysis showed that both plasmids pPC37 and pPC58 expressed a protein with an apparent Mr of 38,000 in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Restriction endonuclease mapping of pPC37 and pPC58 and DNA hybridization studies indicated that a 2.1-kb region of these two clones of C. acetobutylicum DNA encodes the FDP-activated LDH.     

Synthesis by DNA polymerase I on bleomycin-treated deoxyribonucleic acid: a requirement for exonuclease III

phi X174 RFI DNA treated with bleomycin (BLM) under conditions permitting nicking does not serve as a template-primer for Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I. Purified exonuclease III from E. coli and extracts from wild-type E. coli strains are able to convert the BLM-treated DNA to suitable template-primer, but extracts from exonuclease III deficient strains are not. Brief digestion by exonuclease III is enough to create the template-primer, suggesting that the exonuclease III is converting the BLM-treated DNA by a modification of 3' termini. The exonucleolytic rather than the phosphatase activity of exonuclease III appears to be involved in the conversion. Comparative studies with micrococcal nuclease indicate that BLM-created nicks do not have a simple 3'-P structure. Bacterial alkaline phosphatase does not convert BLM-treated DNA to template-primer. The endonuclease VI activity associated with exonuclease III does not incise DNA treated with BLM under conditions not allowing nicking, in contrast to DNA with apurinic sites made by acid treatment, arguing that conversion does not require the endonuclease VI action on uncleaved sites.     

Cloning of a lactate dehydrogenase gene from Clostridium acetobutylicum B643 and expression in Escherichia coli.

A lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) gene of Clostridium acetobutylicum B643 was cloned on two recombinant plasmids, pPC37 and pPC58, that were selected by complementation of Escherichia coli PRC436 (acd), a fermentation-defective mutant that does not grow anaerobically on glucose. E. coli PRC436(pPC37) and PRC436(pPC58) grew anaerobically and fermented glucose to mostly lactate. When pPC37 and pPC58 were transformed into E. coli FMJ39 (ldh pfl), an LDH-deficient strain, the resulting strains grew anaerobically on glucose and produced lactate. Crude extracts of E. coli FMJ39(pPC37) and FMJ39(pP58) contained high LDH activity only when assayed for pyruvate reduction to lactate, and the LDH activity was activated 15- to 30-fold by the addition of fructose 1,6-diphosphate (FDP). E. coli FMJ39 had no detectable LDH activity, and E. coli LDH from a wild-type strain was not activated by FDP. Maxicell analysis showed that both plasmids pPC37 and pPC58 expressed a protein with an apparent Mr of 38,000 in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Restriction endonuclease mapping of pPC37 and pPC58 and DNA hybridization studies indicated that a 2.1-kb region of these two clones of C. acetobutylicum DNA encodes the FDP-activated LDH.     

A genetic system for isolation and characterization of TaqI restriction endonuclease mutants

The gene encoding TaqI restriction endonuclease has been subcloned downstream from an inducible phoA promoter. Certain strains of Escherichia coli remain viable when endonuclease is expressed, even in the absence of (protective) methylation. Infecting lambda phage DNA is not restricted in vivo. One E. coli strain, MM294, exhibited a temperature-sensitive phenotype when TaqI endonuclease was induced. This allowed for design of an in vivo plate assay for identification of specially constructed two-codon insertion mutants in the endonuclease gene. These mutants exhibited a wide range of in vitro activities, including wild-type activity, greater activity in low-salt buffer, and sequence-specific nicking activity.     

A general approach for purifying proteins encoded by cloned genes without using a functional assay: isolation of the uvrA gene product from radiolabeled maxicells.

The uvrA protein (UVRA) of E. coli has been extensively purified from a strain in which UVRA is overproduced and specifically labeled with 35S-methionine. This approximately 100-fold overproduction relative to normal strains is a result of having the uvrA gene present on a multicopy plasmid in a spr recA cell that makes defective lexA protein, the normal repressor of the uvrA gene, while the specific labeling of UVRA is done with maxicells. This approach facilitates the preparation of the protein since enzyme assays do not have to be carried out during the intermediate stages of purification. The purified UVRA binds to DNA and has ATPase activity but does not have intrinsic endonuclease activity. When added to extracts of uvrA- cells, the purified UVRA does promote the specific cutting of UV-irradiated DNA. Since this approach for working out rapid purification procedures by specifically labeling the proteins encoded by cloned genes does not require the use of a functional assay, it is a general one that can be applied to a wide variety of other gene products in addition to UVRA.