Expression of the E. coli uvrA gene is inducible

UvrA+-dependent excision repair is one of the most important systems in Escherichia coli for repairing UV-induced pyrimidine dimers and a variety of other forms of DNA damage. The uvrA protein acts in conjunction with the uvrB and uvrC gene products to introduce a nick at the of a DNA lesion and thus initiate the repair process. We have recently used the Mud(Ap, lac) operon fusion vector to identify a set of genes whose expression is induced by DNA damage. One Mud(Ap, lac) insertion mapped at the uvrA locus and made the cells sensitive to UV light. In this fusion strain, beta-galactosidase expression was induced by DNA-damaging agents in a recA+lexA+-dependent fashion. We were surprised by this result because uvrA+-dependent excision repair is observed both in cells in which protein synthesis has been inhibited and in recA- and lexA- cells, findings which have led to the conclusion that the uvrA gene product is constitutively expressed and not under the control of the complex recA+lexA+ regulatory circuitry (see below). We have investigated this possibility further and describe here the generation and characterization of a set of fusions of the lac genes to the promoter of the uvrA gene. We confirm that the uvrA gene product is induced by DNA damage in a recA+lexA+-dependent fashion.     

The E. coli ffh gene is necessary for viability and efficient protein export.

Homologues of the gene encoding the 54K (M(r) 54,000) subunit of the mammalian signal recognition particle have been identified in different organisms. The Escherichia coli homologue, termed ffh (for fifty-four homologue), specifies a protein (Ffh) that shares many properties with its eukaryotic counterpart, including association with mammalian 7S RNA and the ability to bind signal sequences specifically. Ffh also associates with E. coli 4.5S RNA, showing that it can form a ribonucleoprotein complex in prokaryotes. These results are intriguing because extensive genetic and biochemical characterization of E. coli failed to identify a signal recognition particle-like mechanism for protein export. Here we address this issue directly by construction of a strain in which ffh expression is arabinose-dependent. Results of depletion experiments indicate that Ffh is important in protein translocation.     

Homing of a DNA endonuclease gene by meiotic gene conversion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

An unusual protein splicing reaction joins the N-terminal segment (A) and the C-terminal segment (C) of the 119K primary translation product (ABC) of the yeast VMA1 gene to yield a 69K vacuolar H(+)-ATPase subunit (AC) and an internal 50K polypeptide (B). This 50K protein is a site-specific DNA endonuclease that shares 34% identity with the homothallic switching endonuclease. The site cleaved by the VMA1-derived endonuclease exists in a VMA1 allele that lacks the derived endonuclease segment of the open reading frame. Cleavage at this site only occurs during meiosis and initiates 'homing', a genetic event that converts a VMA1 allele lacking the endonuclease coding sequence into one that contains it.     

突变人GM-CSF基因在大肠杆菌中的表达及纯化

目的构建重组人粒细胞-巨噬细胞集落刺激因子(rhGM-CSF)的高效表达质粒,将其表达产物用于分离纯化的研究。方法用人外周血单核细胞获得总RNA作为模板和修饰的5′端密码子的引物经RT-PCR反应扩增到人GM-CSF基因,插入温控表达载体pDH构建了突变的hGM-CSF表达质粒,并将在E.coli中获得表达的突变rhGM-CSF包含体8 mol/L脲提取液进一步用离子交换色谱柱分离纯化。结果rhGM-CSF在大肠杆菌表达占菌体总蛋白量的22%,用弱阴离子交换色谱对rhGM-CSF的工程菌表达产物8 mol/L脲提取液直接经35 m in分离纯化,所得产物纯度可达95%,质量回收率可达到60%。结论这表明用离子交换色谱可进行rhGM-CSF的复性与同时纯化。     

从大肠杆菌中获得高浓度质粒DNA的方法

通过改进菌体的培养以及质粒小提方法,可以简便快捷地得到浓度很高的质粒DNA,经琼脂糖凝胶电泳、紫外分光光度法、酶切、PCR的验证,所提质粒可以应用于分子生物学的研究,特别是可以满足瞬时基因枪转化的要求。     

AID mutates E. coli suggesting a DNA deamination mechanism for antibody diversification

After gene rearrangement, immunoglobulin variable genes are diversified by somatic hypermutation or gene conversion, whereas the constant region is altered by class-switch recombination. All three processes depend on activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a B-cell-specific protein that has been proposed (because of sequence homology) to function by RNA editing. But indications that the three gene diversification processes might be initiated by a common type of DNA lesion, together with the proposal that there is a first phase of hypermutation that targets dC/dG, suggested to us that AID may function directly at dC/dG pairs. Here we show that expression of AID in Escherichia coli gives a mutator phenotype that yields nucleotide transitions at dC/dG in a context-dependent manner. Mutation triggered by AID is enhanced by a deficiency of uracil-DNA glycosylase, which indicates that AID functions by deaminating dC residues in DNA. We propose that diversification of functional immunoglobulin genes is triggered by AID-mediated deamination of dC residues in the immunoglobulin locus with the outcome--that is, hypermutation phases 1 and 2, gene conversion or switch recombination--dependent on the way in which the initiating dU/dG lesion is resolved.