Generalized transduction in Rhizobium meliloti.

Generalized transduction of Rhizobium meliloti 1021 was carried out by bacteriophage N3. Genetic markers on the chromosome and the pSym megaplasmid were transduced, along with markers on several IncP plasmids. Cotransduction between transposon Tn5 insertions and integrated recombinant plasmid markers permitted correlation of cotransductional frequencies and known physical distances. Bacteriophage N3 was capable of infecting several commonly used strains of R. meliloti.     

Cyclic AMP levels during induction and repression of cellulase biosynthesis in Thermomonospora curvata.

Specific cellulase production rates (SCPR) were compared with intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels in the thermophilic actinomycete, Thermomonospora curvata, during growth on several carbon sources in a chemically defined medium. SCPR and cAMP levels were 0.03 U (endoglucanase [EG] units) and 2 pmol per mg of dry cells, respectively, during exponential growth on glucose. These values increased to about 6 and 25, respectively, during growth on cellulose. Detectable EG production ceased when cAMP levels dropped below 10. Cellobiose (usually considered to be a cellulase inducer) caused a sharp decrease in cAMP levels and repressed EG production when added to cellulose-grown cultures. 2-deoxy-D-glucose, although nonmetabolizable in T. curvata, depressed cAMP to levels observed with glucose, but unlike glucose, the 2DG effect persisted until cells were washed and transferred to fresh medium. SCPR values and cAMP levels in cells grown in continuous culture under conditions of cellobiose limitation were markedly influenced by dilution rate (D). The maxima for both occurred at D = 0.085 (culture generation time of 11.8 h). When D was held constant and cellobiose concentration was increased over a 14-fold range to support higher steady state population levels, SCPR values decreased about fivefold, indicating that extracellular catabolite accumulation may be a factor in EG repression. The role of cAMP in the mechanism of this repression appears to be neither simple nor direct, since large changes (up to 200-fold) in SCPR accompany relatively small changes (10-fold) in cellular cAMP levels.     

Direct plasmid transfer from replica-plated E. coli colonies to competent B. subtilis cells. Identification of an E. coli clone carrying the hisH and tyrA genes of B. subtilis

Summary We have cloned the hisH tyrA wild-type genes of Bacillus subtilis with the aid of the chimeric plasmid pBJ194, which replicates both in B. subtilis and Escherichia coli. Primary cloning was done in E. coli. The original E. coli clone, carrying the recombinant plasmid (pGR1) which complements hisH tyrA mutants of B. subtilis, was selected directly from a mixture of plated E. coli clones by replicaplating these clones onto minimal agar plates without tyrosine spread just before with competent B. subtilis cells. After overnight incubation clusters of small colonies had developed exclusively in the E. coli [pGR1] colony prints.The Tyr⁺ minicolonies were shown to be B. subtilis carrying pGR1 because (i) their appearance depended linearly on the number of B. subtilis cells plated, (ii) they produced extracellular protease and amylase and (iii) plasmids could be reisolated from the minicolonies and used to transform B. subtilis recE4 tyrA1 both to Cm^r and Tyr⁺.Plasmid pGR1 transfer through replica plating was compared with plasmid transfer in liquid. Both systems depended on transformable B. subtilis strains and were sensitive to DNAseI. However, whereas integration of the tyrA ⁺ gene into the chromosome and concomittant loss of plasmids occurred frequently during regular plasmid transformation of Rec⁺ B. subtilis, this was a rare event during plasmid transfer through replica plating.     

Cellobiose metabolism in Erwinia: genetic study

Summary The study of mutants of Erwinia specifically unable to ferment cellobiose indicates that the mutations are clustered between arg and ile on the chromosome of this organism. In vivo cloning of the genes responsible for cellobiose utilization lead to a plasmid, pBEC2, which complements all Erwinia Clb^- specific mutants. When introduced into wild-type E. coli it allows this organism to use cellobiose, arbutin and salicin; it also complements bglB and bglC mutants of Escherichia coli indicating that arbutin and salicin utilization is due to the products of the pBEC2 cloned genes. From the characterization of mutants pleiotropically affected in the utilization of various carbon sources, including cellobiose, arbutin and salicin, it is proposed that the three--glucosides are substrates of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS).     

Plasmid R46 provides a function that promotes recA-independent deletion, fusion and resolution of replicon

Summary We report that plasmid R46 provides a function which promotes recA-independent deletion, replicon fusion, and resolution of the fusion. R46 belongs to the incompatibility group N and specifies resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, streptomycin and sulfonamide. Four kinds of deletion derivatives were observed by selection for susceptability to tetracycline from ampicillin-resistant clones. A common region, will be called region thereafter, was postulated to be involved in these deletions. The replicon fusion occurred by a conjugative mobilization of each derivative with plasmid R388. The fusion was suggested to contain both replicons linked at each junction by the sequence in the region in direct orientation. The resolution of the replicon fusion was found between two regions and a consequently generated, parental deletion derivative and an R388 derivative which gained one region. It is possible that the region contains one potential Insertion Sequence (IS) element. These events were also speculated to occur as a consequence of insertion of the potential IS onto the intramolecular or intermolecular target sequence, or reciprocal recombination between two potential IS elements.     

Genetic and physical maps of Klebsiella aerogenes genes for histidine utilization (hut)

Summary Deletion derivatives of the hut-containing plasmid pCB101 were tested against point mutants defective in individual genes of the histidine utilization (hut) operons using a complementation/recombination assay. Location of the genes of the right operon, hutU and hutH, was confirmed by direct assay of the gene products, urocanase and histidase; location of the repressor gene was identified by measuring the ability of the plasmid-carried genes to repress the formation of histidase from a chromosomal location. The analysis of eight deletion plasmids unambiguously confirms the map order of the hut genes as hutI-G-C-U-H, and demonstrates that, in Klebsiella aerogenes, the hutU and hutH genes are transcribed from their own promoter. In addition, the genetic map of hut can be aligned with the restriction map of the hut DNA in plasmid pCB101. One of the deletion plasmids studied apparently encodes a defective histidase subunit that is trans-dominant to active histidase. Another deletion, which completely removes the left operon, hutIG, allows high level expression of the hutUH operon and thus overproduction of a toxic intermediate.     

Many rhinovirus serotypes share the same cellular receptor.

Twenty-four human rhinovirus serotypes were grown and purified by centrifugation in metrizamide density gradients. These preparations had a lower buoyant density (1.24 g/cm3) and higher specific infectivities (1:24 to 1:240) than did rhinoviruses described previously (E. J. Stott and R. J. Killington, Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 26:503-524, 1972). Binding conditions in which the unique cellular receptors for virus attachment were saturated were determined for each serotype. Competition binding assays between pairs of serotypes allowed 20 of the 24 serotypes to be assigned to the same cellular receptor. The remaining four serotypes appeared to attach to a different cellular receptor. Since most serotypes were chosen for study at random, it seems likely that many of the yet unstudied rhinoviruses will share this common cellular receptor.     

Yeast mutants without phosphofructokinase activity can still perform glycolysis and alcoholic fermentation

Summary Mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae without detectable phosphofructokinase activity were isolated. They were partly recessive and belonged to two genes called PFK1 and PFK2. Mutants with a defect in only one of the two genes could not grow when they were transferred from a medium with a nonfermentable carbon source to a medium with glucose and antimycin A, an inhibitor of respiration. However, the same mutants could grow when antimycin A was added to such mutants after they had been adapted to the utilization of glucose. Double mutants with defects in both genes could not grow at all on glucose as the sole carbon source. Mutants with a single defect in gene PFK1 or PFK2 could form ethanol on a glucose medium. However, in contrast to wild-type cells, there was a lag period of about 2 h before ethanol could be formed after transfer from a medium with only nonfermentable carbon sources to a glucose medium. Wild-type cells under the same conditions started to produce ethanol immediately. Mutants with defects in both PFK genes could not form ethanol at all. Mutants without phosphoglucose isomerase or triosephosphate isomerase did not form ethanol either. Double mutants without phosphofructokinase and phosphoglucose isomerase accumulated large amounts of glucose-6-phosphate on a glucose medium. This suggested that the direct oxidation of glucose-6-phosphate could not provide a bypass around the phosphofructokinase reaction. On the other hand, the triosephosphate isomerase reaction was required for ethanol production. Experiments with uniformly labeled glucose and glucose labeled in positions 3 and 4 were used to determine the contribution of the different carbon atoms of glucose to the fermentative production of CO₂. With only fermentation operating, only carbon atoms 3 and 4 should contribute to CO₂ production. However, wild-type cells produced significant amounts of radioactivity from other carbon atoms and pfk mutants generated CO₂ almost equally well from all six carbon atoms of glucose. This suggested that phosphofructokinase is a dispensable enzyme in yeast glycolysis catalyzing only part of the glycolytic flux.