Kinetics of transcription and tranalation of a repressed gene

Isolation of Serratia marcescens mutants which could overproduce and excrete Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase and beta-lactamase

Serratia marcescens mutants, which excrete Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase (APase) encoded by the plasmid-bearing phoA gene, were isolated after mutagenesis by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. These mutants produced two to four times as much APase as did the parent strain under a phosphate-limiting condition, and more than 70% of the enzyme was released into the culture medium. In addition, overproduction and excretion of beta-lactamase was observed in these mutants.

Isolation of unselected mutants of alkaline phosphatase in Escherichia coli through nitrosoguanidine comutation and comparison with natural variants

We have devised a general procedure to isolate enzymatic variants without selecting or screening for related phenotypic peculiarities of the organism. A high mutation rate at phoA, the structural gene for alkaline phosphatase, is found among N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine-induced proC revertants of Escherichia coli. About 1.6% of such revertants lack alkaline phosphatase, and many others exhibit altered enzyme parameters. Three mutants studied in detail had full enzyme activity but differed from the wild type in electrophoretic mobility, thermostability, and, in one case, optimum pH for enzyme activity. Four other phosphatase variants were discovered in a survey of 50 natural E. coli isolates; their electrophoretic mobility and thermostability were different from those of the wild type. Natural and induced enzyme variants are similar enough to suggest the absence of strong selective pressures in natural populations.

Cloning of and complementation tests with alkaline phosphatase regulatory genes (phoS and phoT) of Escherichia coli

The regulatory genes of alkaline phosphatase, phoS and phoT, of Escherichia coli were cloned on pBR322, initially as an 11.8-kilobase EcoRI fragment. A restriction map of the hybrid plasmid was established. Deletion plasmids of various sizes were constructed in vitro, and the presence of phoS and phoT genes on the cloned DNA fragments was tested by introducing the plasmids into phoS64 and phoT9 strains for complementation tests. One set complemented only phoS64 but not phoT9; the other set complemented only phoT9 but not phoS64. We conclude that phoS64 and phoT9 mutations belong to different complementation groups and probably to different cistrons. The hybrid plasmid with the 11.8-kilobase chromosomal fragment also complemented the phoT35 mutation. A smaller derivative of the hybrid plasmid was constructed in vitro which complemented phoT35 but did not complement phoS64, phoT9, or pst-2. Our results agree with the suggestion that phoT35 lies in a different complementation group from phoS, phoT, or pst-2 (Zuckier and Torriani, J. Bacteriol. 145:1249--1256, 1981). Therefore, we propose to designate phoT35 as phoU. The effect of amplification of phoS or phoT on alkaline phosphatase production was examined. It was found that multiple copies of the phoS gene borne on pBR322 repressed enzyme production even in low-phosphate medium, whether it was introduced into wild-type strains (partially repressed) or phoR (phoR68 or phoR17) strains (fully repressed), whereas the introduction of multicopy plasmids bearing the phoT gene did not affect the inducibility of the enzyme.

Location and orientation of the phoA locus on the Escherichia coli K-12 linkage map

The order of gene loci in the phoA-phoR region of the Escherichia coli K-12 linkage map was demonstrated to be lac phoA proC phoR. The end of the phoA locus corresponding to the amino terminus of alkaline phosphatase was shown to be the end nearer proC. Translation (and transcription) of phoA is therefore in the anticlockwise direction relative to the conventional E. coli linkage map.

On the relation between effector concentration and the rate of induced enzyme synthesis

The Jacob and Monod scheme for the regulation of enzyme formation leads to the following relation between the relative rate of enzyme synthesis alpha and cellular effector concentration E (the lower sign is for repressible systems): log (alpha/1 - alpha - alpha(b)) = +/- n log [E] + log alpha(b) +/- log K(1). This equation permits linear plotting of experimental data and the evaluation of three quantities: n, the number of effector molecules combining with a repressor molecule, K(1), the dissociation constant of this interaction and K(2)/R(t), the ratio of repressor-operator dissociation constant to total repressor concentration. Measurements on the repression of alkaline phosphatase in Escherichia coli as a function of phosphate concentration are reported and fit the proposed equation with n = 1, indicating that the binding of a single phosphate to the repressor species may be sufficient to cause repression. K(1) of this interaction was found to be 0.58 +/-0.11 x 10(-3) M. The available data regarding the enzymes of the lac operon in a variety of E. coli strains, and several other enzymes are analyzed. It is confirmed that the lac repressor interacts with 2 isopropyl thiogalactoside (IPTG) molecules to relieve repression with a K(1) = 50 +/-20 x 10(-12) M(2). In some strains, separate binding constants for the first and second IPTG molecules can be evaluated.

In vivo suppression of coding associated with bacteriophage-induced S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase

The methylation of ribosomal and transfer ribonucleic acid (RNA) synthesized after the induction of a hydrolase for S-adenosylmethionine by phage T3 infection is reducible to 50% of the methylation of RNA in uninfected cells. Hypomethylated ribosomal RNA is found in 70S particles that dissociate in 100 mum Mg(++) to yield only 30S and 50S subunits. By this criterion, the omitted methyl groups apparently are not required for ribosomal maturation or stability. The rate of production of alkaline phosphatase in a phosphatase amber mutant was examined after phage infection in the presence and in the absence of streptomycin to determine the effect on the translation process consequent to S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) hydrolase induction. Significant increases in the rates of phosphatase production were found when ultraviolet-inactivated T3 or streptomycin was added. The effects were cumulative when the cells were treated with both bacteriophage and the drug. Ultraviolet-inactivated T7, a phage closely related to T3 but which does not produce the SAM hydrolase, did not enhance the rate of alkaline phosphatase production. We suggest that the production of SAM hydrolase affects the stability of the translation process by the observed hypomethylation or by mechanisms concerning polyamine metabolism.

Decay of normal and 5-fluorouracil-substituted messenger ribonucleic acid of alkaline phosphatase in Escherichia coli

The decay of alkaline phosphatase messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in Escherichia coli was studied in cells sensitized to actinomycin D by ethylenediaminetetra-acetate treatment. It was found that in the wild-type strain (K-10) as well as in a nonsense mutant (S26C200), which is phenotypically reversible by treatment with 5-fluorouracil, mRNA decays with a half-life of 2.0 to 2.5 min. Similarly, in a 3-min pulse of labeled 5-fluorouracil, 70% of the incorporated analogue is contained in the labile RNA fraction decomposing with a half-life of 1.8 min.