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B Poetsch

Publications and source records attributed to B Poetsch.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

pSAR1, a natural plasmid from Streptomyces arenae, shows rapid increase and decrease of copy numbers on changes of growth media.

A natural plasmid, pSAR1, was isolated from the antibiotic producer Streptomyces arenae TU469. Its size is estimated to approx. 80 kbp by restriction analysis. pSAR1 occurs in two copy-number states differing by a factor of at least 10, depending on culture conditions. The high copy-number state is strongly correlated with the production of the antibiotic pentalenolactone. The decrease of copy numbers after change of culture conditions is completed within 1 h. These unusually rapid kinetics and the occurrence of degradational intermediates suggest the participation of specific catalytic mechanisms in copy number regulation.

Culture Media

Photomorphogenesis in Physarum polycephalum. Temporal expression pattern of actin, alpha- and beta-tubulin.

Photo-induced fruiting-body formation of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum can be divided into two stages. The first stage (I) starts with the beginning of illumination (0 h) and ends with the formation of nodules (12 h). The second stage (II) is characterized by culmination, sporangiophore formation and melanization of sporangiophore heads (13-17 h). We investigated the expression of actin, alpha- and beta-tubulin during this differentiation process using Northern blot analysis and run-off transcription in isolated nuclei. Whereas actin mRNA is irreversibly lost during stage I, we observed two peaks in mRNA concentration for alpha-tubulin and one peak for that of beta-tubulin during stage I and a coordinated alpha/beta-tubulin mRNA induction during stage II. Stage II induction appears to be related to a presporangial mitosis. Transcriptional activity of the three genes studied shows two maxima, namely one in the middle of stage I and the other at the end of stage II. Our data suggest that the expression of the three cytoskeletal proteins investigated follows a distinct temporal pattern comprising changes in both mRNA synthesis and decay. We also propose a novel function of tubulin in Physarum which is not related to mitosis.

Actins

Cloning and expression of a beta tubulin gene of Physarum polycephalum.

A beta tubulin gene of Physarum polycephalum has been isolated from a genomic library in the phage EMBL4. Southern-blot hybridization to genomic DNA indicates that the cloned DNA is derived from the betB1 locus of the beta tubulin gene family. A tubulin-specific subfragment of the phage DNA was used as a hybridization probe to construct a restriction map of the betB1 locus. The probe consisted of the almost complete coding region of the 5' half of the tubulin gene, interrupted by one intron. The derived amino acid sequence of this subclone deviates from the protein sequence for Physarum amoebal beta tubulin (amino acids 4-207) in two of 207 amino acids. We used both recA and recBC sbcB bacterial host strains, which have been recommended for cloning of instability-conferring sequences of the Physarum genome, but were unable to subclone the 3' part of the gene from the phage DNA. Primer-extension analysis indicates that the betB gene is expressed in the vegetatively proliferating amoebal and plasmodial stages of the life cycle as well as in differentiating (sporulating) plasmodia.

Amino Acid Sequence