BIPOLARITY OF INFORMATION TRANSFER FROM THE SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM CHROMOSOME

Gene order and co-transduction in the leu-ara-fol-pyrA region of the Salmonella typhimurium linkage map

The gene order and orientation in the leu-pyrA region of the Salmonella typhimurium linkage map was established by phage P22-mediated transductions. The gene order, in counterclockwise orientation, is leuO-leuA-leuB-leuC-leuD-ara-fol-pyrA. The fol locus is co-transducible with either the ara and leu loci or the pyrA locus, whereas no co-transduction for the ara and pyrA loci can be found.

Asymmetric template function of microbial deoxyribonucleic acids: transcription of ribosomal and soluble ribonucleic acids

In Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, 16 and 23S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) hybridize exclusively with the heavy (H) strand of methylated albuminkieselguhr (MAK)-fractionated complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands. All the soluble RNA (4S RNA) in B. subtilis and 66 to 75% of the 4S RNA in E. coli also hybridize with the H strand. Interspecific hybridization shows that E. coli 23S rRNA also binds selectively to the DNA H strand of Salmonella typhimurium. The hybridization peak for all three cellular RNA components is specifically located in the late-eluting region of the absorbance profile of the DNA H strand. The early-eluting region of the light (L) strand preferentially inhibits the hybridization between the peak region of the H strand and 23S rRNA. These regions are considered to represent the transcribing sequences and their complements for 23S rRNA in the separated H and L strands of DNA, respectively.

Complementarity of RNA produced by enzymic transcription of native and denatured B. subtilis DNA

This paper describes the preparation and some of the properties of the RNA specimens synthesized with the aid of the RNA polymerase of E. coli by transcription of the following DNA templates: (a) undenatured B. subtilis DNA (yielding N-RNA); (b) separated strand fractions L and H isolated by chromatography of the denatured DNA on methylated albumin (yielding L-RNA and H-RNA, respectively). The study of the hybridization behavior of the various RNA products showed that N-RNA, though able to form hybrids with either strand, hybridized with H-DNA to twice as great an extent as with L-DNA. The transcripts of the separated L and H fractions exhibited complete specificity with respect to complexing: L-RNA hybridized only with L-DNA, H-RNA only with H-DNA.

The transcribing strands of bacillus subtilis DNA for ribosomal and transfer RNA

H(3)-labeled purified 16S and 23S ribosomal RNA's and transfer RNA's were found to hybridize exclusively with the H strand of the separated complementary strands of B. subtilis DNA. These results indicate that these RNA's are transcribed in vivo from a strand with a composition similar to that from which messenger RNA's are copied and presumably by the same mechanism.

Tryptophan operon of Escherichia coli: regulatory behavior in Salmonella typhimurium cytoplasm

Hybrids hemizygous for the tryptophan genes were prepared by episomal transfer of an Escherichia coli element into Salmonella typhimurium. Regulation of enzyme production by hybrids carrying wild-type E. coli genes in response to changes in the growth medium occurs in precisely the same manner as in haploid E. coli wild type. Mutant alleles of the anthranilate synhetase gene of E. coli which prevent derepression in E. coli function identically in S. typhimurium. At least one Salmonella tryptophan regulatory gene unlinked to the structural genes is known. Any dijferences which may exist between the tryptophan regulatory genes of E. coli and Salmonella have little effect on the regulation of enzyme formation in hybrids.

Comparison of the tryptophan synthetase alpha-subunits of several species of Enterobacteriaceae

Creighton, T. E. (Stanford University, Stanford), D. R. Helinski, R. L. Somerville, and C. Yanofsky. Comparison of the tryptophan synthetase alpha subunits of several species of Enterobacteriaceae. J. Bacteriol. 91:1819-1826. 1966.-The tryptophan synthetase alpha subunits of Escherichia coli K-12, E. coli B, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhimurium, and Aerobacter aerogenes have been purified and their structures compared. Each of these alpha subunits exhibits a sedimentation coefficient of about 2.7S. Peptide patterns of trypsin plus chymotrypsin digests of the alpha subunits have indicated that all of the alpha subunits have peptide regions in common. The patterns of E. coli K-12, E. coli B, and S. dysenteriae alpha subunits appear to be nearly identical, whereas the alpha subunits from S. typhimurium and A. aerogenes differ from those of E. coli and from each other. It has also been shown that the E. coli structural gene for the alpha subunit is translated identically in E. coli and S. typhimurium.

Mutation leading to increased sensitivity to chromium in Salmonella typhimurium

Corwin, L. M. (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C.), G. R. Fanning, F. Feldman, and P. Margolin. Mutation leading to increased sensitivity to chromium in Salmonella typhimurium. J. Bacteriol. 91:1509-1515. 1966.-Certain deletion mutants including the tryptophan operon in Salmonella typhimurium are unable to utilize several sugars as carbon sources in solid media, although they are able to grow in liquid media with these sugars. The addition of citrate or washing the agar with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid permits growth on solid media. Analysis of the agar revealed that Fe(3+) and Cr(3+) were present at concentrations of 22 and 75 mum, respectively. The addition of Fe(3+) to liquid media in 0.5 mm concentrations did not inhibit the wild type or the mutants. A similar concentration of Cr(3+) did not inhibit the wild type, but concentrations as low as 0.01 to 0.05 mm inhibited the deletion mutants. Other metals were inhibitory at various concentrations, but none showed any significant differential effects on the mutants and the wild type. The increased sensitivity of the mutants to chromium may be due either to an increased permeability to Cr(3+), resulting in higher effective intracellular concentrations and inhibition of one or more metabolic functions, or to a binding of Cr(3+) to an altered cell wall, resulting in decreased permeability of required substrates.