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G T Yarranton

Publications and source records attributed to G T Yarranton.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Investigation of the instability of plasmids directing the expression of Met-prochymosin in Escherichia coli.

The causes of the instability of a multicopy plasmid, pCT70, which directs the expression of calf prochymosin in Escherichia coli, were investigated. Plasmid pAT153 and its derivative, pCT54, were stable for more than 90 generations in continuous culture with glucose limitation. The multicopy plasmid pCT66, which expressed very low levels of prochymosin due to poor translational efficiency, and low copy number plasmids which efficiently expressed the prochymosin gene, were also stable. These results indicated that high level translation of the recombinant gene was the cause of the instability of pCT70. The maximum specific growth rate of E. coli(pCT70) was reduced by 30% compared with E. coli(pCT66). To fulfil the requirements of a production system, a dual origin plasmid with controllable copy number was developed. Both this plasmid (pMG165) and a derivative which contained the prochymosin gene (pMG168) were stable when maintained at low copy number. When the copy number of plasmid pMG168 was increased by putting replication under the control of the lambda PR promoter and the cI857 temperature sensitive repressor, expression of prochymosin was achieved. This strategy enables large-scale production of prochymosin without the need for antibiotic selection or other methods of preventing plasmid loss.

Chymosin↗
PubMed1984

Dual-origin plasmid vectors whose origin of replication is controlled by the coliphage lambda promoter pL.

The insertion of an XhoI linker 30 bp from the 5' end of the RNA II primer for ColE1 plasmid replication has allowed us to replace the natural RNA II promoter by other controllable promoters, in particular lambda pL. Manipulation of this modified origin was facilitated by constructing dual-origin plasmids, stable maintenance being directed by the pSC101 origin. Experiments showed that such dual-origin plasmids could be stably maintained at approximately four copies per chromosome at 30 degrees C and readily amplified by thermal induction of strains carrying a thermolabile lambda repressor. The use of such plasmids for the construction of stable, amplifiable expression vectors is discussed.

Bacteriocin Plasmids↗
PubMed1982

Inducible DNA repair in Ustilago maydis.

Maximum survival of UV-irradiated U. maydis required a 2-3 h period of post-irradiation RNA and protein synthesis. Split dose experiments showed that this requirement correlated with the development of a radio-resistant cell state induced by UV doses above 200 Jm-2. Once induced, the radio-resistant state precluded the need for further RNA and protein synthesis for proficient repair of DNA damage caused by a second UV dose. Such radio-resistance was retained for up to 15 hours and it is concluded that this phenomenon represents the expression of an inducible DNA repair process, which is under transcriptional control.

Basidiomycota↗
PubMed1982

Cloned truncated recA genes in E. coli. I. Effect on radiosensitivity and recA+ dependent processes.

Plasmids pMH1 and pDR1461, possessing the control region and 22% or 73% of the E. coli recA gene, conferred UV sensitivity to wild-type uvrA, and umuC bacteria. Sensitization was less in recA441 (tif-1) mutants and absent in lexA cells. Radiosensitization correlated with inhibition of recombinational repair, even through induced recA protein synthesis and recombination in Hfr matings were normal. Plasmids pMH1 and pDR1461 also prevented induction of some, but not all, SOS functions. Mutagenic reversion to tryptophan prototrophy and induced reactivation of UV-irradiated phage lambda were eliminated, and the efficiency of lambda lysogenic induction reduced. However, naladixic acid induced filamentous growth, mitomycin-C induced uvrA gene expression and post UV-irradiation DNA degradation control were little changed. Explanations of these effects are discussed which involve the presence of either truncated recA protein or multiple copies of the recA gene control sequence.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1982

Cloned truncated recA genes in E. coli II. Effects of truncated gene products on in vivo recA+ protein activity.

The ability of plasmids carrying truncated recA genes to sensitize recA+ cells to UV-irradiation was dependent upon the size of the cloned recA gene fragment. Radiosensitization correlated with the inhibition of recombinational repair, and the in vivo reduction of recA protein recombinase activity, as measured by lambda bio 11 plating efficiency. W-reactivation was also abolished by the radiosensitizing plasmids, whilst DNA degradation control, naladixic acid induced filamentation and lambda induction were unaffected. UV-induced mutagenesis in excision proficient E. coli was unaffected, whilst excision deficient strains were hypermutable. It is suggested that these effects of plasmids bearing 22% or more of the recA gene are the result of the interaction of full-sized and truncated protein subunits to generate multimers unable to catalyze recombination.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1981

Detection of the catalytic activities of DNA polymerases and their associated exonucleases following SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

A method is described to detect DNA polymerases and nucleases in homogeneous or crude enzyme preparations after electrophoresis in SDS-polyacrylamide gels(2) containing the appropriate template or substrate. DNA polymerases are electrophoresed in a gel containing gapped calf thymus DNA and after a renaturation treatment, the gel is incubated in a reaction mixture in which one deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate is [alpha-32P]-labelled. Incorporation of radioactivity into DNA is detected at the vicinity of the polymerase band by autoradiography. An associated nuclease activity can be measured after electrophoresis in a gel containing 32P-labelled gapped DNA, when nucleolytic digestion is seen as a clear band in the resulting autoradiogram. The gels can subsequently be stained with Coomassie blue to establish identical molecular weights of polymerase, nuclease and protein bands. Applications of this technique are discussed.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1981

Lysogenic induction of lambdoid phages in lexA mutants of Escherichia coli.

UV irradiation of lexA3 mutants of E. coli caused lysogenic induction of prophage lambda, lambda i21, lambda i434 and phi 80. Maximal induction in lexA3 lysogens needed less UV than in lexA+ bacteria and gave 25-100% of the normal levels of infective centres induced. Assays of gene expression arising from derepression of a defective lambda prophage showed at least 40% of the normal levels of induction by mitomycin C in lexA3 bacteria. The need for post-irradiation protein synthesis for lysogenic induction in lexA3 lysogens was reduced by increasing the basal level of recA protein with a recA+ plasmid. It is concluded that in lexA E. coli some recA protein synthesis, too small to be detected by physical means, is needed for UV induced lysogenic induction.

Bacteriophage lambda↗
PubMed1980

Enzyme-catalyzed DNA unwinding. The role of ATP in helicase III activity.

The enzyme helicase III catalyzes ATP-dependent unwinding of double-stranded DNA (Yarranto, G. T., Das, R. H., and Gefter, M. L. (1979) J. Biol. Chem. 254, 11997-12001). The free enzyme is able to bind to double- and single-stranded DNA. In the presence of ATP the enzyme can bind single- but not double-stranded DNA. The enzyme catalyzes an ADP-ATP exchange reaction in the absence of DNA. It is suggested that there is an enzyme.phosphate complex that discriminates between the two forms of DNA. These results are discussed in relation to a model that accounts for catalytic unwinding of DNA coupled to ATP hydrolysis.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1979

Enzyme-catalyzed DNA unwinding. A DNA-dependent ATPase from E. coli.

We have isolated a new DNA-dependent ATPase from E. coli. The enzyme has been purified to greater than 90% purity. It appears to be composed of two identical polypeptide chains of molecular weight 20,000. The enzyme catalyzed the hydrolysis of ATP in the presence, but not in the absence, of single-stranded DNA. Double-stranded DNA is not a cofactor. The products of hydrolysis are ADP and Pi. The enzyme also catalyzed strand separation of duplex DNA in the presence of ATP and E. coli DNA binding protein. Two E. coli proteins capable of promoting strand separation have been reported previously and have been termed helicase I and II (Abdel-Monem, M., and Hoffmann-Berling, H. (1977) Eur. J. Biochem. 79, 33-38). Accordingly, this protein is named helicase III.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1979

Enzyme-catalyzed DNA unwinding: studies on Escherichia coli rep protein.

Replication in vitro of the replicative form (RF) I DNA of bacteriophage varphiX174 requires the phage-induced cistron A (cisA) protein, the host rep protein, DNA-binding protein, ATP, and DNA polymerase III plus replication factors. The rep protein is a single-stranded DNA-dependent ATPase. In this paper we show that varphiX174 RF I DNA cut by the cisA protein acts as a duplex DNA cofactor for the rep protein ATPase activity, provided that DNA-binding protein is present. In this latter reaction the duplex DNA is unwound by the rep protein with concomitant hydrolysis of ATP. The extents of ATP hydrolysis, DNA unwinding, and, where appropriate, DNA synthesis are proportional to the amounts of DNA-binding protein present. Two ATP molecules are hydrolyzed per base pair unwound. We propose that the obligatory requirement for the cisA protein in the unwinding of varphiX174 RF I DNA is not simply due to its endonuclease activity but rather is due to its provision of a site for the binding of the rep protein. The rep protein in the presence of DNA-binding protein, but in the absence of cisA protein, unwinds duplex DNA when one strand extends to generate a single-stranded leader region preceding the duplex. We show that rep protein translocates along the leader single strand in a 5'-to-3' direction only and then invades the duplex DNA. The rep protein shows a directional specificity for translocation and unwinding. A model is presented to explain the mechanism of DNA unwinding catalyzed by the rep protein.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1977

A DNA polymerase from Ustilago maydis. Evidence of proof-reading by the associated 3' leads to 5' deoxyribonuclease activity.

The 3' leads to 5' deoxyribonuclease activity associated with an Ustilago maydis DNA polymerase hydrolysed non-complementary 3'-primer termini about 12 times more rapidly than complementary termini. An analysis of its substrate specificity suggested that, although it was unable to hydrolyse fully single-stranded polynucleotides, it could hydrolyse such regions less than about four nucleotides in length covalently bound to a primer molecule which was base-paired to a complementary template strand. Template-primer combinations containing complementary or non-complementary primer termini both supported polynucleotide synthesis, but whereas the former were conserved, the latter were hydrolysed during the reaction thus allowing synthesis to occur. No addition of nucleotides onto a conserved non-complementary 3'-primer terminus was detected. The deoxyribonuclease activity therefore fulfilled a proof-reading function during DNA synthesis in vitro.

Basidiomycota↗
PubMed1976

The influence of DNA binding protein on the substrate affinities of DNA polymerase from Ustilago maydis: one polymerase implicated in both DNA replication and repair.

The DNA polymerase of Ustilago maydis is stimulated by a DNA binding protein from the same organism. Analysis of this stimulation shows that there is an increase in affinity for both substrates of the reaction. The apparent Km for deoxynucleoside triphosphates is decreased 3 fold, and that for denatured DNA by 4 fold. In both cases the maximum velocity (Vmax) is increased 1.2 to 1.4 fold. It is suggested that the variability in the affinity of the enzyme for deoxynucleoside triphosphates mediated by the binding protein may provide the basis for the UV sensitivity of pyrimidine auxotrophs in this organism.

Basidiomycota↗
PubMed1976

A DNA polymerase from Ustilago maydis. 1. Purification and properties of the polymerase activity.

A DNA polymerase from Ustilago maydis has been purified to apparent homogeneity. The native enzyme possesses a subunit structure consisting of 50000 and 55000-dalton monomers. The apparent sedimentation coefficient of the polymerase activity in the absence of salt is 8.4 S (Mr=180000-200000), that in its presence (0.6 M NaCl or 0.12 M KCl) being 6.3 S (Mr=80000-100000). Low concentrations of EDTA also converted the 8.4-S to a 6.3-S form, whereas magnesium ions catalysed the reverse association. The enzyme has an absolute requirement for both a DNA or RNA template and a DNA primer. For homopolymer templates the primer requirement was satisified by a short complementary oligodeoxynucleotide, but oligoribonucleotides were extremely inefficient primers. With the template-primer poly(dA) X (dT)12, the enzyme added an average of 50 dTMP nucleotides on to each primer molecule, whereas with poly(rA) X (dT)12, this figure was 300. The enzyme also possesses an associated deoxyribonuclease activity. No other DNA polymerase activity was detected in cell-free extracts of U. maydis.

Basidiomycota↗
PubMed1976

A DNA polymerase from Ustilago maydis. 2. Properties of the associated deoxyribonuclease activity.

The polymerase and deoxyribonuclease activities of the purified Ustilago maydis DNA polymerase coeluted from a hydroxyapatite column, cosedimented in sucrose gradients in both the absence and presence of salt, possessed similar thermolabilities and reaction requirements. These observations suggest that both activities are associated with the same enzyme and that the deoxyribonuclease activity is not a contaminant. The initial rate of degradation of native 3'-end-group-labelled DNA was similar to that of a heat-denatured substrate, but the final extent was greater for the former. The enzyme exhibits a high specificity for degradation of DNA in a 3' leads to 5' direction. The degradation of a DNA template was inhibited by the presence of the deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates necessary for simultaneous DNA synthesis, but not that of the newly synthesised DNA. About 50%, 29% and 13% of the purine, cytosine and thymine deoxyribonucleotide residues incorporated by the enzyme into DNA respectively, were subsequently excised when monitored by the resulting conversion of the triphosphate substrates to free monophosphate. The majority of the purine deoxyribonucleoside monophosphates appear after the synthetic phase of the reaction has ceased. In many respects, therefore, the deoxyribonuclease activity of the U. maydis DNA polymerase is similar to the bacteriophage T4-induced enzyme.

Basidiomycota↗