Biomedical subjects

J Le Dérout

Publications and source records attributed to J Le Dérout.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Noncomplementing diploids from Bacillus subtilis protoplast fusion: relationship between maintenance of chromosomal inactivation and segregation capacity.

Fusions of Bacillus subtilis protoplasts from two genetically marked strains produce noncomplementing heterodiploid bacteria. These noncomplementing diploids (Ncds) carry both parental chromosomes, but only one is expressed. Fusion products of strains polymorphic for NotI restriction sites provide new physical evidence to support the conclusion that Ncds are not an artifact of cross feeding or cell adhesion. We show that reversible chromosomal inactivation can only account for the biparental trait of unstable Ncds. Two types of cells were recovered from the late progeny of unstable Ncds: Ncds with irreversible chromosome silencing (stable Ncds) and secondary recombinants that displayed a genomic mosaic NotI profile. Segregants from an unstable Ncd population gave rise to two viable haploid cell types. By contrast, stable Ncds segregated into a population of viable and inviable haploid cells. We propose that the latter are derived from irreversible chromosome silencing. Our results indicate that clonal populations of stable Ncds are heterogenous and suggest that segregation and inactivation are independent parameters.

Bacillus subtilis↗

PubMed1992

The spo0A gene is implicated in the maintenance of non-complementing diploids in Bacillus subtilis.

Bacillus subtilis can exist in a diploid state in which two genetically distinct chromosomes co-exist in the same cell and yet only one of them is expressed, thereby determining the phenotype. Such cells are called non-complementing diploids (Ncds). In this study, two types of experiments are reported which indicate that a previously known pleiotropic gene, spo0A, plays a role in the maintaining the diploid state, as follows. (i) When protoplasts of two Spo0A mutant strains were fused, the resulting products continued to segregate cells of both parental phenotypes for many more divisions than had been reported previously. (ii) When a stable Ncd (an Ncd in which the unexpressed markers are not spontaneously activated at a detectable level) harbouring a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene on the silent chromosome was transformed with spo0A null alleles the transformants often expressed chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity. Together these results indicate that the spo0A gene is involved in maintenance of the diploid state in both unstable and stable Ncds.

Bacillus subtilis↗