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D Cue

Publications and source records attributed to D Cue.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Termination of packaging of the bacteriophage lambda chromosome: cosQ is required for nicking the bottom strand of cosN.

Termination of packaging of the lambda chromosome involves completion of translocation of the DNA into the head shell, and conversion of the translocation complex into a cleavage complex. The cleavage reaction introduces staggered nicks into the downstream cosN to generate the right cohesive end of the chromosome. cosQ, a site adjacent to cosN, was found to be required for nicking the bottom strand of cosN; bottom strand nicking was also sequence-specific for bps at the nick site. Nicking of the top strand of cosN (cosNL) was stimulated by cosQ, but fidelity and efficiency of cosNL nicking were largely dictated by other cos subsites (i.e. cosB and I2). Aberrant top-strand cleavage within cosQ was observed in the absence of I2, and nicking at a site 8 nt 5' to the normal cosNL nick site occurred in the absence of cosB. The presence of cosQ was found to be insufficient to arrest DNA translocation in vivo, indicating that cosQ, per se, is not a packaging stop signal. A model is presented in which the role of cosQ is to depolarize the asymmetric arrangement of terminase protomers in the translocation complex so that protomers are configured to match the 2-fold rotational symmetry of cosN.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1998

High-frequency intracellular infection and erythrogenic toxin A expression undergo phase variation in M1 group A streptococci.

A clonal variant of serotype M1 group A streptococcus, strain 90-131, disseminated to several continents, where it was associated with severe systemic infections and toxic shock. Although this strain harbours the speA gene and is efficiently internalized by human epithelial cells, clinical isolates often fail to express the erythrogenic toxin under laboratory growth conditions. Cultures of strain 90-131 were observed to phase vary between small, dry, compact and larger, more mucoid colonies. The former were shown to be poorly internalized by epithelial cells. Analysis of RNA by Northern hybridization demonstrated that the emml, hasA and speA genes were weakly transcribed in cultures derived from the small colonies and highly transcribed in those derived from the large colonies. An insertion mutation in mga (the multigene activator) downregulated the invasion of epithelial cells and the transcription of emm1 and hasA, but had little impact on the transcription of speA. These are the first data to suggest the existence of a common regulatory circuit linking intracellular invasion, M protein, hyaluronic acid capsule and erythrogenic toxin expression by group A streptococcus. Moreover, the genetic instability of toxin expression exhibited by this serotype may impact on laboratory studies that attempt to associate toxin production with toxic shock.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1997

Genetic evidence that recognition of cosQ, the signal for termination of phage lambda DNA packaging, depends on the extent of head filling.

Packaging a phage lambda chromosome involves cutting the chromosome from a concatemer and translocating the DNA into a prohead. The cutting site, cos, consists of three subsites: cosN, the nicking site; cosB, a site required for packaging initiation; and cosQ a site required for termination of packaging. cosB contains three binding sites (R sequences) for gpNu1, the small subunit of terminase. Because cosQ has sequence identity to the R sequences, it has been proposed that cosQ is also recognized by gpNu1. Suppressors of cosB mutations were unable to suppress a cosQ point mutation. Suppressors of a cosQ mutation (cosQ1) were isolated and found to be of three sorts, the first affecting a base pair in cosQ. The second type of cosQ suppression involved increasing the length of the phage chromosome to a length near to the maximum capacity of the head shell. A third class of suppressors were missense mutations in gene B, which encodes the portal protein of the virion. It is speculated that increasing DNA length and altering the portal protein may reduce the rate of translocation, thereby increasing the efficiency of recognition of the mutant cosQ. None of the cosQ suppressors was able to suppress cosB mutations. Because cosQ and cosB mutations are suppressed by very different types of suppressors, it is concluded that cosQ and the R sequences of cosB are recognized by different DNA-binding determinants.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1997

Genetic manipulation of Bacillus methanolicus, a gram-positive, thermotolerant methylotroph.

We report the fist genetic transformation system, shuttle vectors, and integrative vectors for the thermotolerant, methylotrophic bacterium Bacillus methanolicus. By using a polyethylene glycol-mediated transformation procedure, we have successfully transformed B. methanolicus with both integrative and multicopy plasmids. For plasmids with a single BmeTI recognition site, dam methylation of plasmid DNA (in vivo or in vitro) was found to enhance transformation efficiency from 7- to 11-fold. Two low-copy-number Escherichia coli-B, methanolicus shuttle plasmids, pDQ507 and pDQ508, are described. pDQ508 caries the replication origin cloned from a 17-kb endogenous B. methanolicus plasmid, pBM1. pDQ507 carries a cloned B. methanolicus DNA fragment, pmr-1, possibly of chromosomal origin, that supports maintenance of pDQ507 as a circular, extrachromosomal DNA molecule. Deletion analysis of pDQ507 indicated two regions required for replication, i.e., a 90-bp AT-rich segment containing a 46-bp imperfect, inverted repeat sequence and a second region 65% homologous to the B. subtilis dpp operon. We also evaluated two E. coli-B. subtilis vectors, pEN1 and pHP13, for use as E. coli-B. methanolicus shuttle vectors. The plasmids pHP13, pDQ507, and pDQ508 were segregationally and structurally stable in B. methanolicus for greater than 60 generations of growth under nonselective conditions; pEN1 was segregationally unstable. Single-stranded plasmid DNA was detected in B. methanolicus transformants carrying either pEN1, pHP13, or pDQ508, suggesting that pDQ508, like the B. subtilis plasmids, is replicated by a rolling-circle mechanism. These studies provide the basic tools for the genetic manipulation of B. methanolicus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1997

Mutations in Nu1, the gene encoding the small subunit of bacteriophage lambda terminase, suppress the postcleavage DNA packaging defect of cosB mutations.

The linear double-stranded DNA molecules in lambda virions are generated by nicking of concatemeric intracellular DNA by terminase, the lambda DNA packaging enzyme. Staggered nicks are introduced at cosN to generate the cohesive ends of virion DNA. After nicking, the cohesive ends are separated by terminase; terminase bound to the left end of the DNA to be packaged then binds the empty protein shell, i.e., the prohead, and translocation of DNA into the prohead occurs. cosB, a site adjacent to cosN, is a terminase binding site. cosB facilitates the rate and fidelity of the cosN cleavage reaction by serving as an anchoring point for gpNu1, the small subunit of terminase. cosB is also crucial for the formation of a stable terminase-DNA complex, called complex I, formed after cosN cleavage. The role of complex I is to bind the prohead. Mutations in cosB affect both cosB functions, causing mild defects in cosN cleavage and severe packaging defects. The lethal cosB R3- R2- R1- mutation contains a transition mutation in each of the three gpNu1 binding sites of cosB. Pseudorevertants of lambda cosB R3- R2- R1- DNA contain suppressor mutations affecting gpNu1. Results of experiments that show that two such suppressors, Nu1ms1 and Nu1ms3, do not suppress the mild cosN cleavage defect caused by the cosB R3- R2- R1- mutation but strongly suppress the DNA packaging defect are presented. It is proposed that the suppressing terminases, unlike the wild-type enzyme, are able to assemble a stable complex I with cosB R3- R2- R1- DNA. Observations on the adenosine triphosphatase activities and protease susceptibilities of gpNu1 of the Nu1ms1 and Nu1ms3 terminases indicate that the conformation of gpNu1 is altered in the suppressing terminases.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1995

Virus DNA packaging: the strategy used by phage lambda.

Phage lambda, like a number of other large DNA bacteriophages and the herpesviruses, produces concatemeric DNA during DNA replication. The concatemeric DNA is processed to produce unit-length, virion DNA by cutting at specific sites along the concatemer. DNA cutting is co-ordinated with DNA packaging, the process of translocation of the cut DNA into the preformed capsid precursor, the prohead. A key player in the lambda DNA packaging process is the phage-encoded enzyme terminase, which is involved in (i) recognition of the concatemeric lambda DNA; (ii) initiation of packaging, which includes the introduction of staggered nicks at cosN to generate the cohesive ends of virion DNA and the binding of the prohead; (iii) DNA packaging, possibly including the ATP-driven DNA translocation; and (iv) following translocation, the cutting of the terminal cosN to complete DNA packaging. To one side of cosN is the site cosB, which plays a role in the initiation of packaging; along with ATP, cosB stimulates the efficiency and adds fidelity to the endonuclease activity of terminase in cutting cosN. cosB is essential for the formation of a post-cleavage complex with terminase, complex I, that binds the prohead, forming a ternary assembly, complex II. Terminase interacts with cosN through its large subunit, gpA, and the small terminase subunit, gpNu1, interacts with cosB. Packaging follows complex II formation. cosN is flanked on the other side by the site cosQ, which is needed for termination, but not initiation, of DNA packaging. cosQ is required for cutting of the second cosN, i.e. the cosN at which termination occurs. DNA packaging in lambda has aspects that differ from other lambda DNA transactions. Unlike the site-specific recombination system of lambda, for DNA packaging the initial site-specific protein assemblage gives way to a mobile, translocating complex, and unlike the DNA replication system of lambda, the same protein machinery is used for both initiation and translocation during lambda DNA packaging.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

The role of cosB, the binding site for terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage lambda, in the nicking reaction.

cosB is the binding site for terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of ai-12581mbda, and cosN is the adjacent site at which terminase gm-07228es staggered nicks to generate mature lambda DNA molecules. There are three binding sites (R3, R2 and R1) within cosB for gpNu1, the small subunit of terminase. A particular transition mutation of R1, known to weaken binding of gpNu1 to R1, has been introduced into the other R sites, and in the present work the effects of R site mutations on nicking of cosN have been examined. Nicking experiments performed in the presence of ATP suggest that the most profound cosB mutation tested (the R3-R2-R1- mutation) would, at most, reduce cos nicking to congruent to 30% of the level observed for the wild-type substrate. In the presence of ATP, the R3-R2-R1- mutation had no significant effect on terminase nicking of the 1 strand and reduced r-strand nicking to 35% of the wild-type level. The other cosB mutations had no effect on the nicking of either DNA strand when nucleotide was added, but in the absence of ATP, most of the cos mutations resulted in some form of cosN nicking defect; the nicking defects, however, are milder than the in vivo packaging defects that result from the mutations. Quantitatively, only the effect of the R3-R2-R1- mutation on in vitro cosN nicking is reflective of the growth defect exhibited by a R3-R2-R1- phage but the nicking defect is only observed when ATP is omitted from the reaction. The proposal that the cosB mutations primarily affect DNA packaging rather than cosN nicking is discussed. All of the cosB mutations affect r-strand nicking to a greater extent than 1-strand nicking, implying that the interaction of terminase with the left half of cosN occurs via the direct recognition of cosNL by terminase. The level of DNA substrate required for half-maximal cos nicking is approximately equivalent for reactions performed in the presence or absence of ATP, indicating that ATP does not increase the affinity of terminase for cosB. ATP does accelerate the rate of cos nicking, suggesting that the role of ATP in promoting nicking of the cosB- DNAs is primarily to increase the rate of conversion of a cosN-terminase complex into product. A possible fourth R site, R4, is located on the other side of cosN from cosB.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1993

A site required for termination of packaging of the phage lambda chromosome.

Lambda chromosomes are cut and packaged from concatemeric DNA by phage enzyme terminase. Terminase initiates DNA packaging by binding at a site called cosB and introducing staggered nicks at an adjacent site, cosN, to generate the left cohesive end of the DNA molecule to be packaged. After DNA packaging terminase recognizes and cuts the terminal cosN, an event that does not require a wild-type cosB. In this work a site, called cosQ, has been identified that is required for termination of DNA packaging. cosQ, defined by mutations in a sequence called R4, is located approximately 30 bp upstream from cosN. The order of sites is cosQ-cosN-cosB. Helper packaging of repressed, tandem prophage chromosomes demonstrated that a cosQ point mutation affects DNA packaging only when placed at the terminal cos site, whereas cosB mutations only affect packaging initiation. In vitro packaging studies confirmed that cosQ mutations do not affect packaging initiation. In vivo studies indicated that cosQ mutations do not affect cutting of initial cos sites but do cause a defect in packaging termination. cosQ mutants accumulated expanded phage heads, indicating that cosQ mutations affect a step that occurs after packaging of a substantial length of phage DNA. These results show that cosQ mutations define a site required for use of cos sites present at the ends of lambda chromosomes undergoing packaging. Available evidence suggests that other viruses, including phages T3 and T7 and the herpesviruses, may ultimately prove to use cosQ-like sites for packaging termination.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1992

Genetic analysis of cosB, the binding site for terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage lambda.

cosB, the binding site for terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of bacteriophage lambda, consists of three binding sites (called R3, R2 and R1) for gpNu1, the small subunit of terminase; and I1, a binding site for integration host factor (IHF), the DNA bending protein of Escherichia coli. cosB is located between cosN, the site where terminase introduces staggered nicks to generate cohesive ends, and the Nu1 gene; the order of sites is: cosN-R3-I1-R2-R1-Nu1. A series of lambda mutants have been constructed that have single base-pair C-to-T transition mutations in R3, R2 and R1. A single base-pair transition mutation within any one of the gpNul binding sites renders lambda dependent upon IHF for plaque formation. lambda phage with mutations in both R2 and R3 are incapable of plaque formation even in the presence of IHF. Phages that carry DNA insertions between R1 and R2, from 7 to 20 base-pairs long, are also IHF-dependent, demonstrating the requirement for a precise spacing of gpNu1 binding sites within cosB. The IHF-dependent phenotype of a lambda mutant carrying a deletion of the R1 sequence indicates that IHF obviates the need for terminase binding to the R1 site. In contrast, a lambda mutant deleted for R2 and R1 fails to form plaques on either IHF+ or IHF- cells, indicating terminase binding of R2 is involved in suppression of R mutants by IHF. A fourth R sequence, R4, is situated on the left side of cosN; a phage with a mutant R4 sequence shows a reduced burst size on both an IHF+ and an IHF- host. The inability of the R4- mutant to be suppressed by IHF, plus the fact that R4 does not bind gpNu1, suggests R4 is not part of cosB and may play a role in DNA packaging that is distinct from that of cosB.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1992

Genetic analysis of mutations affecting terminase, the bacteriophage lambda DNA packaging enzyme, that suppress mutations in cosB, the terminase binding site.

Terminase, the DNA packaging enzyme of phage lambda, binds to lambda DNA at a site called cosB, and introduces staggered nicks at an adjacent site, cosN, to generate the cohesive ends of virion lambda DNA molecules. Terminase also is involved in separation of the cohesive ends and in binding the prohead, the empty protein shell into which lambda DNA is packaged. Terminase is a DNA-dependent ATPase, and both subunits, gpNu1 and gpA, have ATPase activity. cosB contains a series of gpNu1 binding sites, R3, R2 and R1; between R3 and R2 is a binding site, I1, for integration host factor (IHF), the Escherichia coli DNA bending protein. In this work, a series of mutations in Nu1 have been isolated as suppressors of cosB mutations. One of the Nu1 mutations is identical to the previously described Nu1ms1/ohm1 mutation predicted to cause the change L40F in the 181 amino acid-long gpNu1. Three other Nu1 missense mutations, the Nu1ms2 (L40I), ms3 (Q97K) and ms4 (A92G) mutations, have been isolated; the relative strengths of suppression of cosB mutations by the Nu1ms mutations are: ms1 > ms2 > ms3 > ms4. The Nu1 missense mutations all affect amino acid residues that lie outside of the putative helix-turn-helix DNA binding motif of gpNu1. The Nu1ms1 and Nu1ms2 mutations alter an amino acid residue (L40) that lies directly between two segments of gpNu1 proposed to be involved in ATP binding and hydrolysis; thus these mutations are likely to alter the gpNu1 ATP-binding site. The Nu1ms3 and Nu1ms4 mutations both affect amino acid residues in the central region of gpNu1 that is predicted to form a hydrophilic alpha-helix. To explain how the Nu1ms mutations suppress cosB defects, models involving alterations of the DNA binding and/or catalytic properties of terminase are considered. The results also indicate that terminase occupancy of a single gpNu1 binding site (R3) is necessary and sufficient for the efficient initiation of DNA packaging; the Nu1ms1, ms2 and ms3 mutations permit IHF-independent plaque formation by a phage lacking R2 and R1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Actions of the brain-penetrating H2-antagonist zolantidine on histamine dynamics and metabolism in rat brain.

The effects of zolantidine, the first brain-penetrating H2-receptor antagonist, on the brain levels of histamine (HA) and the HA metabolite tele-methylhistamine (t-MH), the activity of histamine methyltransferase (HMT) and the brain HA turnover rates were investigated in rats. Zolantidine dimaleate (0.1 to 100 mg/kg, s.c.) had no effect on whole brain levels of HA or t-MH and no effect on brain HMT activity, when measured 30 min after administration. Furthermore, brain t-MH levels in pargyline-treated animals were unaffected by zolantidine (0.1 to 25 mg/kg), indicating the absence of an effect on brain HA turnover. In vitro, zolantidine was a potent competitive inhibitor of both brain and kidney HMT, with Ki values of 2.3 and 2.7 microM respectively. These results show that, despite the ability of zolantidine to inhibit HMT in vitro, large doses of this drug did not alter brain HA methylation or turnover in vivo, and they imply that blockade of post-synaptic H2-receptors does not change brain HA dynamics.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Structure and sequence divergence of two archaebacterial genes.

The DNA sequences of a region that includes the hisA gene of two related methanogenic archaebacteria, Methanococcus voltae and Methanococcus vannielii, have been compared. Both organisms show a similar genome organization in this region, displaying three open reading frames (ORFs) separated by regions of very high A + T content. Two of the ORFs, including ORFHisA, show significant DNA sequence homology. As might be expected for organisms having a genome that is A + T-rich, there is a high preference for A and U as the third base in codons. Although the regions upstream of the structural genes contain prokaryotic-like promoter sequences, it is not known whether they are recognized as promoters in these archaebacterial cells. A ribosome binding site, G-G-T-G, is located 6 base pairs preceding the ATG translation initiation sequence of both hisA genes. The sequences upstream of the two hisA genes show only limited sequence homology. The M. voltae intergenic region contains four tandemly arranged repetitions of an 11-base-pair sequence, whereas the M. vannielii sequence contains both direct and inverted repetitive sequences. Based on the degree of hisA sequence homology, we conclude that M. voltae and M. vannielii are less closely related taxonomically than are members of the enteric group of eubacteria.

Archaea↗