Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1975 Nov;124(2):650–660. doi: 10.1128/jb.124.2.650-660.1975

Further characterization of a non-essential mutator gene in Escherichia coli K-12.

R H Hoess, D P Fan
PMCID: PMC235951  PMID: 1102526

Abstract

The properties of mutR, a mutator closely linked to thyA, have been further characterized. We have found that the mutator gene is carried on a specialized transducing phage (lambdapcI857 thyA) generated by the excision of lambdacI857 integrated at a secondary attachment site between lysA and thyA. We present three lines of evidence indicating that mutR is a nonessential gene. (i) Deletions of the mutator can be found amoung survivors of heat induction of lambdacI857 when the phage is integrated between lysA and thyA. (ii) Mutations in mutR can be induced with the frameshift mutagen ICR-191. (iii) An amber mutant in mutR has been found. Viable strains could be made by combining the mutator with polB, polA polR, ligts7, and uvrA mutations. The mutator was still able to increase the spontaneous mutation frequency in these genetic backgrounds. When the reversion patterns of a series of well-characterized trpA mutations were analyzed, the results suggested that mutR is more efficient at causing transitions than transversion mutations.

Full text

PDF
654

Selected References

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

  1. ALLEN M. K., YANOFSKY C. A BIOCHEMICAL AND GENETIC STUDY OF REVERSION WITH THE A-GENE A-PROTEIN SYSTEM OF ESCHERICHIA COLI TRYPTOPHAN SYNTHETASE. Genetics. 1963 Aug;48:1065–1083. doi: 10.1093/genetics/48.8.1065. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Breckenridge L., Gorini L. Genetic analysis of streptomycin resistance in Escherichia coli. Genetics. 1970 May;65(1):9–25. doi: 10.1093/genetics/65.1.9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chung S. T., Greenberg G. R. Apparent mutagenic effect of induction of lambda prophage inserted between lysA and thyA. J Bacteriol. 1974 Dec;120(3):1209–1212. doi: 10.1128/jb.120.3.1209-1212.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cox E. C., Degnen G. E., Scheppe M. L. Mutator gene studies in Escherichia coli: the mutS gene. Genetics. 1972 Dec;72(4):551–567. doi: 10.1093/genetics/72.4.551. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fowler R. G., Degnen G. E., Cox E. C. Mutational specificity of a conditional Escherichia coli mutator, mutD5. Mol Gen Genet. 1974;133(3):179–191. doi: 10.1007/BF00267667. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gibson T. C., Scheppe M. L., Cox E. C. Fitness of an Escherichia coli mutator gene. Science. 1970 Aug 14;169(3946):686–688. doi: 10.1126/science.169.3946.686. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Herman R. K., Dworkin N. B. Effect of gene induction on the rate of mutagenesis by ICR-191 in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1971 May;106(2):543–550. doi: 10.1128/jb.106.2.543-550.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hoess R. H., Herman R. K. Isolation and characterization of mutator strains of Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1975 May;122(2):474–484. doi: 10.1128/jb.122.2.474-484.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Khmel'nitskii M. I., Zlotnikov K. M. Mutatornye svoistva i kartirovanie mutatsii prv u Escherichia coli K-12, povyshaiushchikh chastotu vnutrigennykh rekombinatsii. Genetika. 1974 Dec;10(12):110–114. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kondo S. Evidence that mutations are induced by errors in repair and replication. Genetics. 1973 Apr;73(Suppl):109–102. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Konrad E. B., Lehman I. R. A conditional lethal mutant of Escherichia coli K12 defective in the 5' leads to 3' exonuclease associated with DNA polymerase I. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1974 May;71(5):2048–2051. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.5.2048. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nestmann E. R., Hill R. F. Population changes in continuously growing mutator cultures of Escherichia coli. Genetics. 1973 Apr;73(Suppl):41–44. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Roth J. R. Frameshift mutations. Annu Rev Genet. 1974;8:319–346. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.08.120174.001535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Russell R. L., Abelson J. N., Landy A., Gefter M. L., Brenner S., Smith J. D. Duplicate genes for tyrosine transfer RNA in Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1970 Jan 14;47(1):1–13. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(70)90397-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Schleif R. Fine-structure deletion map of the Escherichia coli L-arabinose operon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Nov;69(11):3479–3484. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.11.3479. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schlessinger D. Genetic and antibiotic modification of protein synthesis. Annu Rev Genet. 1974;8:135–154. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.08.120174.001031. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Shimada K., Weisberg R. A., Gottesman M. E. Prophage lambda at unusual chromosomal locations. I. Location of the secondary attachment sites and the properties of the lysogens. J Mol Biol. 1972 Feb 14;63(3):483–503. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90443-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Siegel E. C., Ivers J. J. mut-25, a mutation to mutator linked to purA in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1975 Feb;121(2):524–530. doi: 10.1128/jb.121.2.524-530.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Siegel E. C. Ultraviolet-sensitive mutator mutU4 of Escherichia coli inviable with polA. J Bacteriol. 1973 Jan;113(1):161–166. doi: 10.1128/jb.113.1.161-166.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Siegel E. C. Ultraviolet-sensitive mutator strain of Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1973 Jan;113(1):145–160. doi: 10.1128/jb.113.1.145-160.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Smirnov G. B., Skavronskaya A. G. Suppression of ultraviolet sensitivity in Escherichia coli uvr502 by the su58 missense suppressor. J Bacteriol. 1973 Aug;115(2):486–489. doi: 10.1128/jb.115.2.486-489.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Taylor A. L., Trotter C. D. Linkage map of Escherichia coli strain K-12. Bacteriol Rev. 1972 Dec;36(4):504–524. doi: 10.1128/br.36.4.504-524.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wechsler J. A., Gross J. D. Escherichia coli mutants temperature-sensitive for DNA synthesis. Mol Gen Genet. 1971;113(3):273–284. doi: 10.1007/BF00339547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Yanofsky C., Ito J., Horn V. Amino acid replacements and the genetic code. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1966;31:151–162. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1966.031.01.023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES