Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1989 Apr;171(4):2222–2225. doi: 10.1128/jb.171.4.2222-2225.1989

Translation of merD in Tn21.

I W Lee 1, B D Gambill 1, A O Summers 1
PMCID: PMC209882  PMID: 2539363

Abstract

All four sequenced examples of the mercury resistance (mer) operon of gram-negative bacteria have a promoter-distal reading frame, merD, whose removal has little effect on the resistance phenotype and whose translation has not previously been observed. Using merD-lacZ protein fusions, we show that merD is translated. However, Hg(II)-induced merD expression, as measured by beta-galactosidase activity and immunoblotting, is 10- to 15-fold lower than that of fusions to the gene immediately preceding it, merA.

Full text

PDF
2222

Images in this article

2224Image
on p.2224

Selected References

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

  1. Barrineau P., Gilbert P., Jackson W. J., Jones C. S., Summers A. O., Wisdom S. The DNA sequence of the mercury resistance operon of the IncFII plasmid NR1. J Mol Appl Genet. 1984;2(6):601–619. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barrineau P., Summers A. O. A second positive regulatory function in the mer (mercury resistance) operon. Gene. 1983 Nov;25(2-3):209–221. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(83)90225-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bhriain N. N., Foster T. J. Polypeptides specified by the mercuric resistance (mer) operon of plasmid R100. Gene. 1986;42(3):323–330. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(86)90236-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blake M. S., Johnston K. H., Russell-Jones G. J., Gotschlich E. C. A rapid, sensitive method for detection of alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-antibody on Western blots. Anal Biochem. 1984 Jan;136(1):175–179. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(84)90320-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brown N. L., Misra T. K., Winnie J. N., Schmidt A., Seiff M., Silver S. The nucleotide sequence of the mercuric resistance operons of plasmid R100 and transposon Tn501: further evidence for mer genes which enhance the activity of the mercuric ion detoxification system. Mol Gen Genet. 1986 Jan;202(1):143–151. doi: 10.1007/BF00330531. [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. Foster T. J. The genetics and biochemistry of mercury resistance. Crit Rev Microbiol. 1987;15(2):117–140. doi: 10.3109/10408418709104455. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gambill B. D., Summers A. O. Versatile mercury-resistant cloning and expression vectors. Gene. 1985;39(2-3):293–297. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(85)90326-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gold L. Posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms in Escherichia coli. Annu Rev Biochem. 1988;57:199–233. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.57.070188.001215. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Griffin H. G., Foster T. J., Silver S., Misra T. K. Cloning and DNA sequence of the mercuric- and organomercurial-resistance determinants of plasmid pDU1358. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 May;84(10):3112–3116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.10.3112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hattori M., Sakaki Y. Dideoxy sequencing method using denatured plasmid templates. Anal Biochem. 1986 Feb 1;152(2):232–238. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(86)90403-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Heltzel A., Gambill D., Jackson W. J., Totis P. A., Summers A. O. Overexpression and DNA-binding properties of the mer-encoded regulatory protein from plasmid NR1 (Tn21). J Bacteriol. 1987 Jul;169(7):3379–3384. doi: 10.1128/jb.169.7.3379-3384.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Jackson W. J., Summers A. O. Biochemical characterization of HgCl2-inducible polypeptides encoded by the mer operon of plasmid R100. J Bacteriol. 1982 Aug;151(2):962–970. doi: 10.1128/jb.151.2.962-970.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jackson W. J., Summers A. O. Polypeptides encoded by the mer operon. J Bacteriol. 1982 Feb;149(2):479–487. doi: 10.1128/jb.149.2.479-487.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lathe R., Kieny M. P., Skory S., Lecocq J. P. Linker tailing: unphosphorylated linker oligonucleotides for joining DNA termini. DNA. 1984;3(2):173–182. doi: 10.1089/dna.1984.3.173. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Looman A. C., Bodlaender J., Comstock L. J., Eaton D., Jhurani P., de Boer H. A., van Knippenberg P. H. Influence of the codon following the AUG initiation codon on the expression of a modified lacZ gene in Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 1987 Aug;6(8):2489–2492. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02530.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. A new method for sequencing DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Feb;74(2):560–564. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.2.560. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ni'Bhriain N. N., Silver S., Foster T. J. Tn5 insertion mutations in the mercuric ion resistance genes derived from plasmid R100. J Bacteriol. 1983 Aug;155(2):690–703. doi: 10.1128/jb.155.2.690-703.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Shapira S. K., Chou J., Richaud F. V., Casadaban M. J. New versatile plasmid vectors for expression of hybrid proteins coded by a cloned gene fused to lacZ gene sequences encoding an enzymatically active carboxy-terminal portion of beta-galactosidase. Gene. 1983 Nov;25(1):71–82. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(83)90169-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Summers A. O. Organization, expression, and evolution of genes for mercury resistance. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1986;40:607–634. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.40.100186.003135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Tabor S., Richardson C. C. A bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/promoter system for controlled exclusive expression of specific genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Feb;82(4):1074–1078. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.4.1074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES