Retroregulation of an int-lacZ gene fusion in a plasmid system.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Guarneros.
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The Escherichia coli rap mutant does not support the growth of bacteriophage lambda (D. Henderson and J. Weil, Virology 71:546-559, 1976). We located the rap site at 26 min in the E. coli genetic map and determined the gene order fadR-rap-supF-trp from our transduction experiments. Plasmid pHO1 harbors a 5.6-kilobase-pair segment of the E. coli chromosome which contains the pth gene (B. Hove-Jensen, Mol. Gen. Genet. 201:269-276, 1985). This plasmid complemented rap bacteria, suggesting that it carries the dominant allele rap+. Subcloning experiments reduced the rap-complementing segment to 1.5 kilobase pairs. This segment still contained pth; thus, both loci are tightly linked. The lit mutations that inhibit phage T4 growth in E. coli are located nearby at 25 min (W. Cooley, K. Sirotkin, R. Green, and L. Snyder, J. Bacteriol. 140:83-91, 1979). We showed that rap and lit mutations are phenotypically and genetically different.
Bacteriophage lambda int gene expression is regulated differentially from transcripts originated at the pL and pI promoters. Transcripts initiated at pI terminate at the site tI and express int gene product efficiently. Polymerases starting at pL do not terminate at tI, due to the antiterminating activity of lambda N protein. The pL transcripts are unable to express Int protein efficiently because sib, a control site overlapping tI in the unterminated RNA, is processed by host RNase III. We have isolated lambda sib- mutants by their inability to inhibit int expression from pL transcripts. sib mutations were genetically mapped to the left of the lambda attachment site, and do not structurally alter this site for recombination. Several sib mutations do alter the nucleotide sequence of the overlapping sib and tI sites. The lambda sib- mutants tested prevent RNA processing but do not affect transcription termination in vivo.
In this paper, we attempted to define the role of phagocytosis in the virulence of Entamoeba histolytica. We have isolated, from a highly phagocytic and virulent strain, a clone deficient in phagocytosis. Trophozoites of wild-type strain HM1:IMSS were fed with Escherichia coli strain CR34-Thy- grown on 5-bromo,2'-deoxyuridine. The trophozoites that had incorporated the base analog through phagocytosis of the bacteria were killed by irradiation with 310 nm light. The survivors, presumably trophozoites defective in phagocytosis, were grown until log phase and submitted two more times to the selection procedure. Clone L-6, isolated from a subpopulation resulting from this selection procedure, showed 75-85% less erythrophagocytic activity than the wild-type strain. The virulence of clone L-6 and strain HM1:IMSS was measured. The inoculum required to induce liver abscesses in 50% of the newborn hamsters inoculated (AD50) of HM1:IMSS was 1.5 X 10(4) trophozoites. Clone L-6 trophozoites failed to induce liver abscesses in newborn hamsters even with inocula of 5 X 10(5) trophozoites. Virulence revertants were obtained by successive passage of L-6 trophozoites through the liver of young hamsters. The trophozoites that recovered the ability to produce liver abscesses simultaneously recuperate high erythrophagocytic rates. These results show that phagocytosis is involved in the aggressive mechanisms of E. histolytica.
The bacteriophage lambda int gene product, integrase, recombines the phage DNA with the host DNA at specific sites on each to accomplish lysogeny. The int gene is transcribed from two promoters, PL and PI, each regulated positively by lambda proteins. The expression of integrase is also controlled from a site, sib, in the b region of the phage genome. This is a unique regulatory site because it is located distal to the structural gene in relation to the promoters. The expression of int from the PL promoter is inhibited when sib is present. This effect appears to be specific for PL because sib does not cause inhibition of PI-dependent int synthesis. lambda mutants that contain alterations in the site have been isolated. Sequence analyses of the mutations reveal single base changes, spanning 37 base pairs (bp) in the b region, some 240 bp beyond the int gene. Another mutant, hef13, which has a phenotype similar to that of sib, introduces a nucleotide change within the same 37-bp region. The sib and hef mutations cluster within a region of dyad symmetry. Regulation of int synthesis by sib occurs after transcription of the int gene. There is no difference in the rate of PL-promoted int mRNA synthesis in either sib+ or sib- phage infections, yet int mRNA is less stable in the sib+ infection. Because RNase III host mutants are defective in sib regulation, processing of the PL mRNA at sib by this endoribonuclease may cause int mRNA decay and decrease int synthesis.
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