Skip to main content
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1990 Apr;172(4):1983–1991. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.4.1983-1991.1990

Organization of the replication control region of plasmid ColIb-P9.

C Hama 1, T Takizawa 1, H Moriwaki 1, Y Urasaki 1, K Mizobuchi 1
PMCID: PMC208695  PMID: 1690704

Abstract

We identified a 1,845-base-pair sequence that contains essential information for the autonomous replication and regulation of the 93-kilobase-pair IncI alpha group ColIb-P9 plasmid. Biochemical and genetic analyses revealed that this sequence specifies at least two structural genes, designated repZ and inc. The repZ gene encodes a protein with a molecular weight of 39,000, which probably functions as an initiator for the ColIb-P9 replicon. The inc gene that phenotypically governs the incompatibility encodes an RNA with a size of about 70 bases. This small RNA acts in trans to repress the expression of repZ, thereby functioning to maintain a constant copy number of the ColIb-P9 replicon in host cells.

Full text

PDF
1984

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Bolivar F., Rodriguez R. L., Greene P. J., Betlach M. C., Heyneker H. L., Boyer H. W., Crosa J. H., Falkow S. Construction and characterization of new cloning vehicles. II. A multipurpose cloning system. Gene. 1977;2(2):95–113. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Boulnois G. J., Wilkins B. M. A novel priming system for conjugal synthesis of an IncI alpha plasmid in recipients. Mol Gen Genet. 1979 Oct 1;175(3):275–279. doi: 10.1007/BF00397227. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brady G., Frey J., Danbara H., Timmis K. N. Replication control mutations of plasmid R6-5 and their effects on interactions of the RNA-I control element with its target. J Bacteriol. 1983 Apr;154(1):429–436. doi: 10.1128/jb.154.1.429-436.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bramhill D., Kornberg A. A model for initiation at origins of DNA replication. Cell. 1988 Sep 23;54(7):915–918. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90102-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. 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]
  6. Casadaban M. J., Cohen S. N. Analysis of gene control signals by DNA fusion and cloning in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1980 Apr;138(2):179–207. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90283-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chang A. C., Cohen S. N. Construction and characterization of amplifiable multicopy DNA cloning vehicles derived from the P15A cryptic miniplasmid. J Bacteriol. 1978 Jun;134(3):1141–1156. doi: 10.1128/jb.134.3.1141-1156.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Clewell D. B., Helinski D. E. Existence of the colicinogenic factor-sex factor ColI-b-P9 as a supercoiled circular DNA-protein relaxation complex. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1970 Oct 9;41(1):150–156. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(70)90481-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. De Lucia P., Cairns J. Isolation of an E. coli strain with a mutation affecting DNA polymerase. Nature. 1969 Dec 20;224(5225):1164–1166. doi: 10.1038/2241164a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fuller R. S., Kornberg A. Purified dnaA protein in initiation of replication at the Escherichia coli chromosomal origin of replication. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Oct;80(19):5817–5821. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.19.5817. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Germino J., Bastia D. Primary structure of the replication initiation protein of plasmid R6K. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Sep;79(18):5475–5479. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.18.5475. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Itoh T., Tomizawa J. Formation of an RNA primer for initiation of replication of ColE1 DNA by ribonuclease H. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 May;77(5):2450–2454. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.5.2450. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kumar C. C., Novick R. P. Plasmid pT181 replication is regulated by two countertranscripts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Feb;82(3):638–642. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.3.638. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. LENNOX E. S. Transduction of linked genetic characters of the host by bacteriophage P1. Virology. 1955 Jul;1(2):190–206. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(55)90016-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lacatena R. M., Cesareni G. Base pairing of RNA I with its complementary sequence in the primer precursor inhibits ColE1 replication. Nature. 1981 Dec 17;294(5842):623–626. doi: 10.1038/294623a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Light J., Molin S. Post-transcriptional control of expression of the repA gene of plasmid R1 mediated by a small RNA molecule. EMBO J. 1983;2(1):93–98. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1983.tb01387.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Masai H., Arai K. RepA and DnaA proteins are required for initiation of R1 plasmid replication in vitro and interact with the oriR sequence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Jul;84(14):4781–4785. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.14.4781. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Masukata H., Tomizawa J. Control of primer formation for ColE1 plasmid replication: conformational change of the primer transcript. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):125–136. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90491-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. 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]
  20. Messing J. New M13 vectors for cloning. Methods Enzymol. 1983;101:20–78. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)01005-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Messing J., Vieira J. A new pair of M13 vectors for selecting either DNA strand of double-digest restriction fragments. Gene. 1982 Oct;19(3):269–276. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(82)90016-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Murray N. E., Murray K. Manipulation of restriction targets in phage lambda to form receptor chromosomes for DNA fragments. Nature. 1974 Oct 11;251(5475):476–481. doi: 10.1038/251476a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Naito S., Uchida H. Initiation of DNA replication in a ColE1-type plasmid: isolation of mutations in the ori region. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Nov;77(11):6744–6748. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.11.6744. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Nikoletti S., Bird P., Praszkier J., Pittard J. Analysis of the incompatibility determinants of I-complex plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1988 Mar;170(3):1311–1318. doi: 10.1128/jb.170.3.1311-1318.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Novick R. P. Plasmid incompatibility. Microbiol Rev. 1987 Dec;51(4):381–395. doi: 10.1128/mr.51.4.381-395.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Rao R. N., Rogers S. G. Plasmid pKC7: a vector containing ten restriction endonuclease sites suitable for cloning DNA segments. Gene. 1979 Sep;7(1):79–82. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(79)90044-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Rees C. E., Bradley D. E., Wilkins B. M. Organization and regulation of the conjugation genes of IncI1 plasmid colIb-P9. Plasmid. 1987 Nov;18(3):223–236. doi: 10.1016/0147-619x(87)90065-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Reiner A. M. Characterization of polynucleotide phosphorylase mutants of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1969 Mar;97(3):1437–1443. doi: 10.1128/jb.97.3.1437-1443.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Rosen J., Ryder T., Inokuchi H., Ohtsubo H., Ohtsubo E. Genes and sites involved in replication and incompatibility of an R100 plasmid derivative based on nucleotide sequence analysis. Mol Gen Genet. 1980;179(3):527–537. doi: 10.1007/BF00271742. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Rosenberg M., Court D. Regulatory sequences involved in the promotion and termination of RNA transcription. Annu Rev Genet. 1979;13:319–353. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.13.120179.001535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. 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]
  32. Scott J. R. Regulation of plasmid replication. Microbiol Rev. 1984 Mar;48(1):1–23. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-048850-6.50006-5. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Shiba K., Mizobuchi K. Posttranscriptional control of plasmid ColIb-P9 repZ gene expression by a small RNA. J Bacteriol. 1990 Apr;172(4):1992–1997. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.4.1992-1997.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Stalker D. M., Kolter R., Helinski D. R. Plasmid R6K DNA replication. I. Complete nucleotide sequence of an autonomously replicating segment. J Mol Biol. 1982 Oct 15;161(1):33–43. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(82)90276-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Staudenbauer W. L. Replication of small plasmids in extracts of Escherichia coli. Mol Gen Genet. 1976 Jun 15;145(3):273–280. doi: 10.1007/BF00325823. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Tinoco I., Jr, Borer P. N., Dengler B., Levin M. D., Uhlenbeck O. C., Crothers D. M., Bralla J. Improved estimation of secondary structure in ribonucleic acids. Nat New Biol. 1973 Nov 14;246(150):40–41. doi: 10.1038/newbio246040a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Tomizawa J. Control of ColE1 plasmid replication: binding of RNA I to RNA II and inhibition of primer formation. Cell. 1986 Oct 10;47(1):89–97. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90369-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Tomizawa J. Control of ColE1 plasmid replication: the process of binding of RNA I to the primer transcript. Cell. 1984 Oct;38(3):861–870. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90281-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Wagner E. G., von Heijne J., Nordström K. Control of replication of plasmid R1: translation of the 7k reading frame in the RepA mRNA leader region counteracts the interaction between CopA RNA and CopT RNA. EMBO J. 1987 Feb;6(2):515–522. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb04783.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Womble D. D., Dong X., Wu R. P., Luckow V. A., Martinez A. F., Rownd R. H. IncFII plasmid incompatibility product and its target are both RNA transcripts. J Bacteriol. 1984 Oct;160(1):28–35. doi: 10.1128/jb.160.1.28-35.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES