Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1991 Apr;173(8):2665–2672. doi: 10.1128/jb.173.8.2665-2672.1991

Molecular analysis of the cryptic and functional phn operons for phosphonate use in Escherichia coli K-12.

K Makino 1, S K Kim 1, H Shinagawa 1, M Amemura 1, A Nakata 1
PMCID: PMC207835  PMID: 1840580

Abstract

We cloned the cryptic phn operon of a K-12 strain, phn(EcoK), and analyzed the nucleotide sequence of the phn region (11,672 bp). An mRNA start site upstream of the phnC gene was identified by S1 nuclease mapping. The pho regulon activator PhoB protects a pho box region near the mRNA start in DNase I footprinting and methylation protection experiments. The sequence of the cryptic phn(EcoK) operon was very similar to that of the functional phn operon of an Escherichia coli B strain, phn(EcoB) (C.-M. Chen, Q.-Z. Ye, Z. Zhu, B. L. Wanner, and C. T. Walsh, J. Biol. Chem. 265:4461-4471, 1990). The phnE(EcoK) gene has an 8-bp insertion, absent from the phnE(EcoB) gene, which causes a frameshift mutation. The spontaneous activation of the cryptic phn(EcoK) operon is accompanied by loss of this additional 8-bp insertion. Studies of the structure, regulation, and function of the phn region suggest that the phosphate starvation-inducible phn operon consists of 14 cistrons from phnC to phnP.

Full text

PDF
2665

Images in this article

2669Image
on p.2669
2670Image
on p.2670
2671Image
on p.2671

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Amemura M., Makino K., Shinagawa H., Kobayashi A., Nakata A. Nucleotide sequence of the genes involved in phosphate transport and regulation of the phosphate regulon in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1985 Jul 20;184(2):241–250. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90377-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Amemura M., Shinagawa H., Makino K., Otsuji N., Nakata A. Cloning of and complementation tests with alkaline phosphatase regulatory genes (phoS and phoT) of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1982 Nov;152(2):692–701. doi: 10.1128/jb.152.2.692-701.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bachmann B. J. Linkage map of Escherichia coli K-12, edition 8. Microbiol Rev. 1990 Jun;54(2):130–197. doi: 10.1128/mr.54.2.130-197.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bremer E., Silhavy T. J., Weisemann J. M., Weinstock G. M. Lambda placMu: a transposable derivative of bacteriophage lambda for creating lacZ protein fusions in a single step. J Bacteriol. 1984 Jun;158(3):1084–1093. doi: 10.1128/jb.158.3.1084-1093.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brosius J. Plasmid vectors for the selection of promoters. Gene. 1984 Feb;27(2):151–160. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(84)90136-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Casadaban M. J., Chou J., Cohen S. N. In vitro gene fusions that join an enzymatically active beta-galactosidase segment to amino-terminal fragments of exogenous proteins: Escherichia coli plasmid vectors for the detection and cloning of translational initiation signals. J Bacteriol. 1980 Aug;143(2):971–980. doi: 10.1128/jb.143.2.971-980.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chen C. M., Ye Q. Z., Zhu Z. M., Wanner B. L., Walsh C. T. Molecular biology of carbon-phosphorus bond cleavage. Cloning and sequencing of the phn (psiD) genes involved in alkylphosphonate uptake and C-P lyase activity in Escherichia coli B. J Biol Chem. 1990 Mar 15;265(8):4461–4471. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hawley D. K., McClure W. R. Compilation and analysis of Escherichia coli promoter DNA sequences. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Apr 25;11(8):2237–2255. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.8.2237. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kimura S., Makino K., Shinagawa H., Amemura M., Nakata A. Regulation of the phosphate regulon of Escherichia coli: characterization of the promoter of the pstS gene. Mol Gen Genet. 1989 Feb;215(3):374–380. doi: 10.1007/BF00427032. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kohara Y., Akiyama K., Isono K. The physical map of the whole E. coli chromosome: application of a new strategy for rapid analysis and sorting of a large genomic library. Cell. 1987 Jul 31;50(3):495–508. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90503-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Levinson G., Gutman G. A. Slipped-strand mispairing: a major mechanism for DNA sequence evolution. Mol Biol Evol. 1987 May;4(3):203–221. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040442. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Makino K., Shinagawa H., Amemura M., Kawamoto T., Yamada M., Nakata A. Signal transduction in the phosphate regulon of Escherichia coli involves phosphotransfer between PhoR and PhoB proteins. J Mol Biol. 1989 Dec 5;210(3):551–559. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(89)90131-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Makino K., Shinagawa H., Amemura M., Kimura S., Nakata A., Ishihama A. Regulation of the phosphate regulon of Escherichia coli. Activation of pstS transcription by PhoB protein in vitro. J Mol Biol. 1988 Sep 5;203(1):85–95. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90093-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Makino K., Shinagawa H., Amemura M., Nakata A. Nucleotide sequence of the phoB gene, the positive regulatory gene for the phosphate regulon of Escherichia coli K-12. J Mol Biol. 1986 Jul 5;190(1):37–44. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90073-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Metcalf W. W., Steed P. M., Wanner B. L. Identification of phosphate starvation-inducible genes in Escherichia coli K-12 by DNA sequence analysis of psi::lacZ(Mu d1) transcriptional fusions. J Bacteriol. 1990 Jun;172(6):3191–3200. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.6.3191-3200.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rigby P. W., Dieckmann M., Rhodes C., Berg P. Labeling deoxyribonucleic acid to high specific activity in vitro by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol. 1977 Jun 15;113(1):237–251. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(77)90052-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Southern E. M. Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol. 1975 Nov 5;98(3):503–517. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80083-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Vieira J., Messing J. Production of single-stranded plasmid DNA. Methods Enzymol. 1987;153:3–11. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)53044-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Vieira J., Messing J. The pUC plasmids, an M13mp7-derived system for insertion mutagenesis and sequencing with synthetic universal primers. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):259–268. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90015-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wanner B. L., Boline J. A. Mapping and molecular cloning of the phn (psiD) locus for phosphonate utilization in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1990 Mar;172(3):1186–1196. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.3.1186-1196.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wanner B. L., McSharry R. Phosphate-controlled gene expression in Escherichia coli K12 using Mudl-directed lacZ fusions. J Mol Biol. 1982 Jul 5;158(3):347–363. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(82)90202-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Webster C., Kempsell K., Booth I., Busby S. Organisation of the regulatory region of the Escherichia coli melibiose operon. Gene. 1987;59(2-3):253–263. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(87)90333-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES