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G Q Yu

Publications and source records attributed to G Q Yu.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Red plaque formation of Coxiella burnetii and reduction assay by monoclonal antibodies.

A red plaque technique for C. burnetii which utilizes primary chicken embryo cells, is described. Red plaques could be consistently detected as early as 6 days, usually 8 days post inoculation (p.i.), reflecting that C. burnetii proliferated within the phagolysosomes of host cells. Incubation with phase II monoclonal antibodies or inactivated immune sera containing phase I and phase II antibodies or phase II antibodies only, markedly reduced phase II C. burnetii red plaques. On the other hand, red plaques from phase I organisms increased several times when phase I cells were mixed with phase I monoclonal antibodies or inactivated immune sera containing phase I and phase II antibodies. By indirect red plaque reduction assay red plaque production by phase II cells could be reduced as well.

Animals↗

Nucleotide sequence and transcription start point of the phosphoglycerate transporter gene of Salmonella typhimurium.

We identified the phosphoglycerate transporter gene of Salmonella typhimurium and its polypeptide product and determined the nucleotide sequence of the gene. The predicted translation product was a protein of 406 amino acid residues and was extremely hydrophobic, a feature that is consistent with its role in membrane transport. Hydropathy analysis suggested that there are eight transmembrane segments of at least 20 amino acid residues for the protein. The transcription start point was mapped to lie at position -44 relative to the putative translational initiation start point. Comparison of PgtP with UhpT and GlpT, the membrane-bound proteins involved in the transport of hexose-6-phosphate and glycerol-3-phosphate, respectively, revealed a very high degree of amino acid sequence similarity among them, reflecting not only similar structures and functions among these polypeptides but also a common evolutionary origin for them.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Genetic evidence for modulation of the activator by two regulatory proteins involved in the exogenous induction of phosphoglycerate transport in Salmonella typhimurium.

Previous work from this laboratory has identified in a fragment of DNA, cloned from Salmonella typhimurium, two genes involved in the exogenous induction of phosphoglycerate transport. These two genes, the transporter gene, pgtP, and the activator gene, pgtA, are closely linked physically; they are only 3.4 kilobases apart. In the accompanying paper, we describe the determination of the nucleotide sequence of this 3.4-kilobase DNA segment and show that this segment contains two genes, pgtB and pgtC, encoding two polypeptides of 593 and 397 amino acid residues, respectively. This paper presents an analysis of the effects of insertions and deletions in pgtBC on the expression of pgtP gene and on the expression of lacZ fused to the pgtP gene. The results indicate that both pgtBC genes are necessary for expression of the pgtP gene. Strikingly, deletion of both genes resulted in a constitutive phenotype, suggesting that PgtB and PgtC polypeptides modulate PgtA activity. The expression of the pgtP gene appears to be regulated by the pgtA gene product, which acts as an activator. A model of induction is proposed in which the central feature is the interaction of the three regulatory proteins in the membrane such that the activity of the activator (PgtA) is subject to modulation by the binding of an inducer.

Chromosome Deletion↗

Identification and nucleotide sequence of the activator gene of the externally induced phosphoglycerate transport system of Salmonella typhimurium.

A recent study from this laboratory (G-q. Yu, D. Goldrick, H.R. Kaback and J-s. Hong, in preparation) indicates that the externally induced phosphoglycerate transport system (pgt) of Salmonella typhimurium is positively regulated by the activator gene, pgtA, and that the pgtA is localized in the SalI-PstI restriction fragment 3.0 kb from the permease gene, pgtP. In this paper, we describe the identification of the activator gene and its gene product and the determination of the complete nucleotide (nt) sequence of the activator gene as well as of a downstream gene not required for pgtP expression. The amino acid sequence of the activator based on the nt sequence shows an N-terminal signal-like sequence which is apparently not cleaved and three potential transmembrane sequences in the C-terminal half of the protein based on the hydropathy analysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Effect of nifA product on suppression of Nif- phenotype of gln mutation and constitutive synthesis of nitrogenase in Klebsiella pneumoniae.

This paper describes the role of nifA product on the ammonia regulation of nitrogen fixation in K. pneumoniae. A plasmid carrying nifA gene under the promoter of tetracycline resistance gene was constructed. When this nifA carrying plasmid was introduced into a glnAG mutant, the Nif- phenotype of this gln mutant was suppressed. Furthermore, when the plasmid was introduced into the wild type and glnAG mutant, derepression of nitrogenase synthesis in ammonia occurred in both strains and the products of nif genes can be detected by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis in the extracts of these ammonia-grown bacterial cells. The constitutive synthesis of nitrogenase in NH4+ was also demonstrated in free living nitrogen-fixing bacteria, Enterobacter cloacae, when the bacteria received the plasmid carrying nifA gene from K. pneumoniae.

Ammonia↗