Skip to main content
PMC home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1986 Mar 11;14(5):2333–2344. doi: 10.1093/nar/14.5.2333

Dissection of promoter sequences involved in transcriptional activation of the Escherichia coli replication origin.

A R Stuitje, N de Wind, J C van der Spek, T H Pors, M Meijer
PMCID: PMC339661  PMID: 2421247

Abstract

The replication frequency of oriC plasmids in vivo is positively affected by specific transcripts running into oriC. These transcripts that activate oriC are initiated at a promoter of a gene coding for a 16kD protein. Genetic evidence is presented for binding of the initiation factor dnaA to a specific sequence (dnaA box) upstream of this promoter. Binding of the dnaA protein to this dnaA box regulates transcription initiation negatively. It was also demonstrated that binding of dnaA protein to the 16kD promoter region is essential to accomplish the actual activation event within the origin. Replication and incompatibility experiments suggest that dnaA protein is present within the activating transcription complex. The function of dnaA in this replication control mechanism is discussed.

Full text

PDF

Selected References

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

  1. Bagdasarian M. M., Izakowska M., Bagdasarian M. Suppression of the DnaA phenotype by mutations in the rpoB cistron of ribonucleic acid polymerase in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1977 May;130(2):577–582. doi: 10.1128/jb.130.2.577-582.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bruce I., Hardy J., Stacey K. A. Potentiation by purines of the growth-inhibitory effects of sulphonamides on Escherichia coli K12 and the location of the gene which mediates this effect. J Gen Microbiol. 1984 Oct;130(10):2489–2495. doi: 10.1099/00221287-130-10-2489. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Fiszer-Szafarz B., Szafarz D., Guevara de Murillo A. A general, fast, and sensitive micromethod for DNA determination application to rat and mouse liver, rat hepatoma, human leukocytes, chicken fibroblasts, and yeast cells. Anal Biochem. 1981 Jan 1;110(1):165–170. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(81)90130-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fuller R. S., Funnell B. E., Kornberg A. The dnaA protein complex with the E. coli chromosomal replication origin (oriC) and other DNA sites. Cell. 1984 Oct;38(3):889–900. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90284-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fuller R. S., Kaguni J. M., Kornberg A. Enzymatic replication of the origin of the Escherichia coli chromosome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Dec;78(12):7370–7374. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.12.7370. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. 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]
  7. Gottesman M. E., Yarmolinsky M. B. Integration-negative mutants of bacteriophage lambda. J Mol Biol. 1968 Feb 14;31(3):487–505. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90423-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hansen F. G., Hansen E. B., Atlung T. The nucleotide sequence of the dnaA gene promoter and of the adjacent rpmH gene, coding for the ribosomal protein L34, of Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 1982;1(9):1043–1048. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01294.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kölling R., Lother H. AsnC: an autogenously regulated activator of asparagine synthetase A transcription in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1985 Oct;164(1):310–315. doi: 10.1128/jb.164.1.310-315.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lother H., Kölling R., Kücherer C., Schauzu M. dnaA protein-regulated transcription: effects on the in vitro replication of Escherichia coli minichromosomes. EMBO J. 1985 Feb;4(2):555–560. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03664.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McKenney K., Shimatake H., Court D., Schmeissner U., Brady C., Rosenberg M. A system to study promoter and terminator signals recognized by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. Gene Amplif Anal. 1981;2:383–415. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Oka A., Sugimoto K., Takanami M., Hirota Y. Replication origin of the Escherichia coli K-12 chromosome: the size and structure of the minimum DNA segment carrying the information for autonomous replication. Mol Gen Genet. 1980 Apr;178(1):9–20. doi: 10.1007/BF00267207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Osinga K. A., Van der Bliek A. M., Van der Horst G., Groot Koerkamp M. J., Tabak H. F., Veeneman G. H., Van Boom J. H. In vitro site-directed mutagenesis with synthetic DNA oligonucleotides yields unexpected deletions and insertions at high frequency. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Dec 20;11(24):8595–8608. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.24.8595. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stuitje A. R., Meijer M. Maintenance and incompatibility of plasmids carrying the replication origin of the Escherichia coli chromosome: evidence for a control region of replication between oriC and asnA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Aug 25;11(16):5775–5791. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.16.5775. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tanaka M., Hiraga S. Negative control of oriC plasmid replication by transcription of the oriC region. Mol Gen Genet. 1985;200(1):21–26. doi: 10.1007/BF00383307. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Yasuda S., Hirota Y. Cloning and mapping of the replication origin of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5458–5462. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5458. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Zyskind J. W., Cleary J. M., Brusilow W. S., Harding N. E., Smith D. W. Chromosomal replication origin from the marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi functions in Escherichia coli: oriC consensus sequence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Mar;80(5):1164–1168. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.5.1164. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. de Wind N., de Jong M., Meijer M., Stuitje A. R. Site-directed mutagenesis of the Escherichia coli chromosome near oriC: identification and characterization of asnC, a regulatory element in E. coli asparagine metabolism. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Dec 20;13(24):8797–8811. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.24.8797. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. von Meyenburg K., Hansen F. G., Nielsin L. D., Riise E. Origin of replication, oriC, or the Escherichia coli chromosome on specialized transducing phages lambda asn. Mol Gen Genet. 1978 Apr 17;160(3):287–295. doi: 10.1007/BF00332972. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES