Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1989 Nov;86(21):8363–8367. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.21.8363

"Activated"-RecA protein affinity chromatography of LexA repressor and other SOS-regulated proteins.

N Freitag 1, K McEntee 1
PMCID: PMC298281  PMID: 2554312

Abstract

We have developed an affinity column to study the interaction of LexA repressor and other substrates with the activated form of RecA protein. Nucleoprotein complexes of RecA protein, (dT)25-30, and adenosine 5'-[gamma-S]thio-triphosphate were formed in solution and bound to RecA protein-agarose columns. These "activated"-RecA nucleoprotein complexes were retained by strong hydrophobic interactions. Purified LexA protein bound tightly to these activated RecA columns, whereas the LexA protein bound poorly to RecA-agarose alone. Once bound, LexA protein underwent specific proteolysis, and the fragments were released from the complex. The mutant LexA protein, LexA-SA119, which cannot carry out self-cleavage or RecA-mediated cleavage in solution, bound efficiently to the activated RecA column but was not cleaved, indicating that these columns can be used to identify residues involved in RecA-LexA binding. As an example of this use, nucleoprotein complexes were prepared using the RecA430 protein. In vivo the recA430 mutation blocks induction of the SOS response. LexA protein was not efficiently retained on the immobilized RecA430 complexes, suggesting that Gly-204 is required for efficient repressor binding. These results show that activated RecA affinity columns can be used to investigate the binding and cleaving properties of mutationally altered RecA and LexA proteins. Additionally, these activated RecA columns have been used to investigate binding interactions of phage lambda repressor, as well as the UmuC protein, which is required for chemical mutagenesis.

Full text

PDF
8363

Images in this article

8364Image
on p.8364
8365Image
on p.8365
8365Image
on p.8365
8365Image
on p.8365

Selected References

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

  1. Burckhardt S. E., Woodgate R., Scheuermann R. H., Echols H. UmuD mutagenesis protein of Escherichia coli: overproduction, purification, and cleavage by RecA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Mar;85(6):1811–1815. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.6.1811. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chamberlain J. P. Fluorographic detection of radioactivity in polyacrylamide gels with the water-soluble fluor, sodium salicylate. Anal Biochem. 1979 Sep 15;98(1):132–135. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(79)90716-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cohen S., Knoll B. J., Little J. W., Mount D. W. Preferential cleavage of phage lambda repressor monomers by recA protease. Nature. 1981 Nov 12;294(5837):182–184. doi: 10.1038/294182a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cox M. M., McEntee K., Lehman I. R. A simple and rapid procedure for the large scale purification of the recA protein of Escherichia coli. J Biol Chem. 1981 May 10;256(9):4676–4678. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Craig N. L., Roberts J. W. E. coli recA protein-directed cleavage of phage lambda repressor requires polynucleotide. Nature. 1980 Jan 3;283(5742):26–30. doi: 10.1038/283026a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cunningham R. P., Shibata T., DasGupta C., Radding C. M. Single strands induce recA protein to unwind duplex DNA for homologous pairing. Nature. 1979 Sep 20;281(5728):191–195. doi: 10.1038/281191a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Devoret R., Pierre M., Moreau P. L. Prophage phi 80 is induced in Escherichia coli K12 recA430. Mol Gen Genet. 1983;189(2):199–206. doi: 10.1007/BF00337804. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Freitag N., McEntee K. Affinity chromatography of RecA protein and RecA nucleoprotein complexes on RecA protein-agarose columns. J Biol Chem. 1988 Dec 25;263(36):19525–19534. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Keener S. L., McNamee K. P., McEntee K. Cloning and characterization of recA genes froM Proteus vulgaris, Erwinia carotovora, Shigella flexneri, and Escherichia coli B/r. J Bacteriol. 1984 Oct;160(1):153–160. doi: 10.1128/jb.160.1.153-160.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Little J. W. Autodigestion of lexA and phage lambda repressors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Mar;81(5):1375–1379. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.5.1375. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Little J. W., Edmiston S. H., Pacelli L. Z., Mount D. W. Cleavage of the Escherichia coli lexA protein by the recA protease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jun;77(6):3225–3229. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.6.3225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Morand P., Blanco M., Devoret R. Characterization of lexB mutations in Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol. 1977 Aug;131(2):572–582. doi: 10.1128/jb.131.2.572-582.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Nohmi T., Battista J. R., Dodson L. A., Walker G. C. RecA-mediated cleavage activates UmuD for mutagenesis: mechanistic relationship between transcriptional derepression and posttranslational activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Mar;85(6):1816–1820. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.6.1816. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Oakley B. R., Kirsch D. R., Morris N. R. A simplified ultrasensitive silver stain for detecting proteins in polyacrylamide gels. Anal Biochem. 1980 Jul 1;105(2):361–363. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(80)90470-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Roberts J. W., Roberts C. W. Two mutations that alter the regulatory activity of E. coli recA protein. Nature. 1981 Apr 2;290(5805):422–424. doi: 10.1038/290422a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Shinagawa H., Iwasaki H., Kato T., Nakata A. RecA protein-dependent cleavage of UmuD protein and SOS mutagenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Mar;85(6):1806–1810. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.6.1806. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Slilaty S. N., Little J. W. Lysine-156 and serine-119 are required for LexA repressor cleavage: a possible mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Jun;84(12):3987–3991. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.12.3987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Slilaty S. N., Rupley J. A., Little J. W. Intramolecular cleavage of LexA and phage lambda repressors: dependence of kinetics on repressor concentration, pH, temperature, and solvent. Biochemistry. 1986 Nov 4;25(22):6866–6875. doi: 10.1021/bi00370a020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Studier F. W., Moffatt B. A. Use of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase to direct selective high-level expression of cloned genes. J Mol Biol. 1986 May 5;189(1):113–130. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90385-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Walker G. C. Mutagenesis and inducible responses to deoxyribonucleic acid damage in Escherichia coli. Microbiol Rev. 1984 Mar;48(1):60–93. doi: 10.1128/mr.48.1.60-93.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES