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J W Erickson

Publications and source records attributed to J W Erickson.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Deletion and insertion mutations in the rpoH gene of Escherichia coli that produce functional sigma 32.

Escherichia coli K-12 strain 285c contains a short deletion mutation in rpoD, the gene encoding the sigma 70 subunit of RNA polymerase. The sigma 70 protein encoded by this allele (rpoD285) unstable, and this instability leads to temperature-sensitive growth. Pseudorevertants of 285c that can grow at high temperature contain mutations in the rpoH gene (encoding the heat shock sigma factor sigma 32), and their mutant sigma 70 proteins have increased stability. We characterized the alterations in three of these rpoH alleles. rpoH111 was a point mutation resulting in a single amino acid substitution. rpoH107 and rpoH113, which are known to be incompatible with rpoD+, altered the restriction map of rpoH. rpoH113 was deleted for 72 base pairs of the rpoH gene yet retained some sigma 32 activity. rpoH107 had two IS1 elements that flanked an unknown DNA segment of more than 6.4 kilobases inserted in the rpoH promoter region. The insertion decreased the amount of rpoH mRNA to less than 0.5% of the wild-type level at 30 degrees C. However, the mRNA from several heat shock promoters was decreased only twofold, suggesting that the strain has a significant amount of sigma 32.

Alleles↗
PubMed1988

Isolation and characterization of Escherichia coli mutants that lack the heat shock sigma factor sigma 32.

The product of the Escherichia coli rpoH (htpR) gene, sigma 32, is required for heat-inducible transcription of the heat shock genes. Previous studies on the role of sigma 32 in growth at low temperature and in gene expression involved the use of nonsense and missense rpoH mutations and have led to ambiguous or conflicting results. To clarify the role of sigma 32 in cell physiology, we have constructed loss-of-function insertion and deletion mutations in rpoH. Strains lacking sigma 32 are extremely temperature sensitive and grow only at temperatures less than or equal to 20 degrees C. There is no transcription from the heat shock promoters preceding the htpG gene or the groESL and dnaKJ operons; however, several heat shock proteins are produced in the mutants. GroEL protein is present in the rpoH null mutants, but its synthesis is not inducible by a shift to high temperature. The low-level synthesis of GroEL results from transcription initiation at a minor sigma 70-controlled promoter for the groE operon. DnaK protein synthesis cannot be detected at low temperature, but can be detected after a shift to 42 degrees C. The mechanism of this heat-inducible synthesis is not known. We conclude that sigma 32 is required for cell growth at temperatures above 20 degrees C and is required for transcription from the heat shock promoters. Several heat shock proteins are synthesized in the absence of sigma 32, indicating that there are additional mechanisms controlling the synthesis of some heat shock proteins.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1987

Regulation of the promoters and transcripts of rpoH, the Escherichia coli heat shock regulatory gene.

In Escherichia coli the product of the rpoH (htpR) gene, sigma 32, directs RNA polymerase to initiate transcription from heat shock promoters at all temperatures. Transcription of the heat shock genes is increased when cells are exposed to high temperatures because of increased transcription initiation by sigma 32-RNA polymerase. As a step toward understanding the regulation of the heat shock response we have examined the transcription of the rpoH gene. Using S1 mapping, promoter cloning, and in vitro transcription, we have identified the promoters and the terminator for the rpoH transcription unit. The rpoH transcripts are monocistronic and originate from at least three promoters. None of the promoters is recognized by sigma 32-RNA polymerase. Two are recognized by sigma 70-RNA polymerase and are active at both low and high growth temperatures. We do not know what form of RNA polymerase recognizes the third promoter. Transcripts from this promoter are abundant only at high temperature and are present after shift to the lethal temperature of 50 degrees C, even at times when there are no detectable transcripts from the other rpoH promoters. The amount of rpoH mRNA increases fivefold by 8 min after shift from 30 to 43.5 degrees C but rpoH mRNA synthesis increases by less than twofold, indicating that there is post-transcriptional control of the level of rpoH mRNA and presumably of sigma 32.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Model of fibronectin tertiary structure based on studies of interactions between fragments.

Human plasma fibronectin aggregates in solution and is thought to form fibrils on cell surfaces, perhaps by self-associating and by interacting with other components such as proteoglycans. We have localized the self-association domains by testing the ability of various fragments of fibronectin to interact with each other. Complexation between fluorescamine-labeled fragments and unlabeled fragments or whole molecules was assessed by gel filtration high-performance liquid chromatography. The fragments studied included nonoverlapping fragments that are situated on the fibronectin polypeptide chain in the following order, beginning from the amino terminus: the 29-, 50-, 120-, 35-, and 25-kDa fragments, as well as multiple-domain fragments of 72 kDa containing the 29- and 50-kDa segments, a fragment of 150 kDa containing the 120- and 35-kDa segment, a fragment of 190 kDa containing the 120- and 35-kDa segments, a fragment of 190 kDa containing the 50-, 150-, and 25-kDa segments, and a 45-kDa fragment containing the 35-kDa segment. The amino-terminal 29-kDa fragment bound to the carboxyl-terminal heparin-binding (Hep II) 35-kDa fragment as well as the 150- and 190-kDa fragments that contain the 35-kDa segment. On the other hand, carboxyl-terminal 35- and 45-kDa Hep II containing fragments bound to each other as well as to amino-terminal 29- and 72-kDa fragments and to the 190-kDa fragment. Further, the 25-kDa carboxyl-terminal fibrin-binding fragment bound the 190-kDa fragment, the only fragment containing the 25-kDa segment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1985

The structure of a T = 1 icosahedral empty particle from southern bean mosaic virus.

The structure of a T = 1 icosahedral particle (where T is the triangulation number), assembled from southern bean mosaic virus coat protein fragments that lacked the amino-terminal arm, was solved by means of model building procedures with the use of 6-angstrom resolution x-ray diffraction data. The icosahedral five-, three-, and twofold contacts were found to be similar, at this resolution, to the analogous contacts (icosahedral five-, quasi-three-, and quasi-twofolds) found in the parent T = 3 southern bean mosaic virus. However, the icosahedral fivefold contacts of the T = 3 structure are the most conserved in the T = 1 capsid. These results are consistent with a mechanism in which pentameric caps of dimers are the building blocks for the assembly of T = 1 and T = 3 icosahedral viruses.

Capsid↗
PubMed1985

Interaction between fluorescence-labeled fibronectin fragments studied by gel high-performance liquid chromatography.

Fibronectin is a large, adhesive glycoprotein which self-associates on many cell surfaces. We have begun to study this reaction by determining the domains of fibronectin which interact with each other. To avoid possible solid-phase artifacts of affinity chromatography, we have devised a solution-phase assay in which the smallest fibronectin fragment is labeled with fluorescamine, mixed with unlabeled fibronectin, and complexation is observed by the appearance of a new higher-molecular-weight peak on gel high-performance liquid chromatography columns. The assay allowed use of excess unlabeled reactant, high-sensitivity, low background without removal of reagent, and fast analysis. Our results show that the amino- and carboxyl-terminal fibronectin fragments bind the native molecule in solution.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗
PubMed1984

Picornaviruses of two different genera have similar structures.

Crystals of Mengo virus were used to collect three-dimensional X-ray diffraction data to 7 A resolution. A self-rotation function showed the precise orientation of the Mengo particles in the crystal unit cell. A cross-rotation function against similar data of cubic rhinovirus crystals showed a peak when the orientations of these two icosahedral viruses were superimposed. This demonstrates similarity of capsid construction between two picornaviruses of different taxonomic genera.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1984

Structure of the Mengo virion. VII. Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis.

Crystals of Mengo virions have been grown reproducibly and analyzed by X-ray diffraction. These crystals diffract to a resolution of 7.0 A. The unit cell exhibits cubic symmetry with a = 422 A. The space group is P23, with four virus particles situated on crystallographic threefold axes. Picornavirions from three of the four recognized genera (Study Group on Picornaviridae, Intervirology 10, 165-180, 1978) have now been examined at low resolution by X-ray diffraction: poliovirus type 1 (J. T. Finch and A. Klug, Nature (London) 183, 1709-1714, 1959; J. M. Hogle, J. Mol. Biol. 160, 663-668, 1982); human rhinovirus 14 (J. W. Erickson, E. A. Frankenberger, M. G. Rossmann, G. S. Fout, K. C. Medappa, and R. R. Rueckert, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 931-934, 1983); and Mengo virus.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Virion orientation in cubic crystals of the human common cold virus HRV14.

A new cubic crystal form (a = 445.1 A) of space group P23 is reported for human rhinovirus R14. There are four particles per unit cell, each situated on a crystallographic 3-fold axis. The orientation of these particles has been determined with a rotation function and their approximate positions have been derived from a Patterson map. The crystals diffract to at least 2.8 A resolution. Limitations to the possible surface features of the virus are set by a comparison of the cubic and orthorhombic crystal forms.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

The htpR gene product of E. coli is a sigma factor for heat-shock promoters.

The htpR gene of E. coli encodes a positive regulator of the heat-shock response. We have fused the htpR gene to the inducible PL promoter of phage lambda. Overproduction of HtpR following a temperature upshift resulted in the overexpression of heat-shock proteins. We describe the purification and initial in vitro characterization of the factor controlling expression of heat-shock genes. The factor was the 32 kd htpR gene product. In vitro, a mixture of HtpR and core RNA polymerase initiated transcription at heat-shock promoters. The sigma factor encoded by rpoD was not required for this reaction. Therefore, HtpR is a sigma factor that promotes transcription initiation at heat-shock promoters. We propose that htpR be renamed rpoH and that the gene product be called sigma-32.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1984

Nucleotide sequence of the heat shock regulatory gene of E. coli suggests its protein product may be a transcription factor.

We have sequenced a cloned segment of E. coli chromosomal DNA that includes the heat shock regulatory gene htpR. This segment contains an 852 nucleotide open reading frame bounded by transcriptional and translational signals. Both in vivo and in vitro the cloned segment produces a single protein that migrates in gels with the cellular protein (F33.4) implicated as the htpR product. Properties of a cloned fragment of the coding sequence truncated at the promoter-distal end are consistent with this assignment. The htpR gene product appears homologous to the sigma factor of RNA polymerase, and the two proteins are predicted to have similar secondary structure. In addition, two regions of the predicted htpR product resemble protein-DNA contact points conserved in known DNA-binding proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1983

Crystallization of a common cold virus, human rhinovirus 14: "isomorphism" with poliovirus crystals.

Crystals of rhinovirus 14 have been grown reproducibly. They diffract x-rays to a resolution of at least 3.5 A. The orthorhombic crystal unit cell contains two virions, each situated on a crystallographic twofold axis. At less than 30-A resolution, the space group approximates to 1222 with the particles possessing 222 pseudo crystallographic symmetry. The crystals are "isomorphous" with type I polio crystals [Finch, J. T. & Klug, A. (1959) Nature (London) 183, 1709-1714; Hogle, J. M. (1982) J. Mol. Biol. 160, 663-668], suggesting some similarities of structure between enteroviruses and rhinoviruses.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1983

RNA-protein interactions in some small plant viruses.

The structure of the three quasi-equivalent protein subunits A, B and C of the spherical, T = 3 southern bean mosaic virus (SBMV) have been carefully built in accordance with a refined electron density map of the complete virus. The lower electron density in the RNA portion of the map could not be explicitly interpreted in terms of a preferred RNA structure on which some icosahedral symmetry might have been imposed. However, the extremely basic nature of the interior surface of the coat protein must be associated with the binding and organization of the RNA. Comparison with the small spherical, T = 1 satellite tobacco necrosis virus (STNV; Liljas et al., J. Mol. Biol. 159, 93-108, 1982) and the T = 1 aggregate of alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) protein (Fukuyama et al., J. Mol. Biol. 150, 33-41, 1981) showed similar results. The pattern of basic residues on the SBMV coat protein surface facing the RNA is able to dock a 9 base pair double-helical A-RNA structure with surprising accuracy. The basic residues are each associated with a different phosphate and the protein can make interactions with five bases in the minor groove. This may be one of a small number of ways in which the RNA interacts with SBMV coat protein. The self-assembly of SBMV has been studied in relation to the presence of the 63 basic amino-terminal coat protein sequence, pH, Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions and RNA. These results have led to a two-state model where the "relaxed" dimers initially self-assemble into 10-mer caps which nucleate the assembly of T = 1 or T = 3 capsids depending on the charge state of the carboxyl group clusters in the subunit contact region. The two-state condition of dimers in a viral coat protein extends the range of structures originally envisaged by Caspar and Klug (Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 27, 1-24, 1962).

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1980

The assembly of papaya mosaic virus coat protein with DNA.

Products of specific (pH 8.0-8.5) and nonspecific (pH 6.0) assembly reactions of papaya mosaic virus (PMV) coat protein with DNA are described. The strandedness, topology, and sugar moiety of the nucleic acid are important parameters for assembly in nonspecific conditions. The linear, single-stranded form of lambda DNA, but not the double-stranded form, reacted with PMV protein to form multiply initiated particles whose helical segments apparently annealed to produce continuous tubular particles. With the circular, single-stranded DNA of phi X174, partially tubular, partially extended particles were made. Poly(dA), unlike poly(A) [Erickson JW, AbouHaidar M, Bancroft JB: Virology 90:60, 1978], was not encapsidated by PMV protein under specific assembly conditions. With all DNAs tested, extended particles were the only products formed in specific conditions at pH 8.5.

Bacteriophage lambda↗