PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

M Llagostera

Publications and source records attributed to M Llagostera.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Characterization of SE1, a new general transducing phage of Salmonella typhimurium.

A transducing phage, SE1, which is able to infect Salmonella typhimurium was isolated from a Salmonella enteritidis strain. SE1 is a temperate phage which is heteroimmune with respect to phages P22, L, KB1 and ES18. It is similar in morphology and size to phages P22, L and KB1 and is serologically related to phages P22 and L but not to KB1. Efficiencies of generalized transduction effected by phage SE1 are similar to those for P22HT (int7), a mutant which mediates a high frequency of chromosomal gene transduction. The lengths of chromosomal DNA transduced by SE1 and P22HT (int7) are similar. Furthermore, the SE1 prophage does not exclude the transducing particles from cells it has lysogenized; consequently it is possible to use both SE1 lysogens and non-lysogenic strains as recipients in SE1-mediated transduction experiments, and obtain similar transduction efficiencies. However, the SE1 prophage gives rise to a lysogenic conversion that decreases the rate of adsorption of SE1 and L phages by about 50%, but does not affect adsorption of P22. Altogether these results suggest that phage SE1 may be a useful tool in the genetic manipulation of S. typhimurium.

Antigens, Bacterial

Effect of adenine, cytidine and guanosine on the expression of the SOS system in Escherichia coli.

Addition of cytidine or guanosine to UV-irradiated cells of a RecA+ strain of Escherichia coli did not produce any effect on the induction of two SOS functions: inhibition of cell division and expression of the umuC gene. Under the same conditions adenine gave a slight increase in the induction of these two responses. In a RecA441 mutant growing at 42 degrees C, both cytidine and guanosine inhibited these SOS functions, whereas adenine produced a large increase in their expression. Moreover, the ATP concentration of the RecA441 mutant at 42 degrees C showed a decrease which occurred earlier in the cells growing in the presence of cytidine or guanosine than in the absence of either compound. Adenine induced an increase of about three times the initial ATP concentration of this mutant at 42 degrees C which dropped quickly after 10 min. Neither cytidine nor guanosine increased the evolution of cellular ATP in UV-irradiated cells of the RecA+ strain, whereas adenine had only a slight positive effect. However, in UV-irradiated RecA+ cells with and without adenine, ATP levels dropped quickly to the initial value after 20 min. These data suggest that the influence of adenine, cytidine and guanosine on the expression of the RecA441 phenotype at 42 degrees C may be due to alteration of the cellular ATP concentration of this mutant.

Adenine

Expression of the SOS genes of Escherichia coli in Salmonella typhimurium.

To lysogenize Salmonella typhimurium by Lambda phage, a region of 10.2 kb of Escherichia coli DNA carrying the nusA gene was cloned in a S. typhimurium strain containing a F'112 plasmid which codifies for the lamB region of E. coli. The strain of S. typhimurium obtained in this way, was lysogenized by lambda c IndO- bacteriophage harboring either a fusion between recA1 or sfiA genes of E. coli with lacZ gene. Likewise, pSE143 plasmid with a umu C::lacZ fusion was introduced in S. typhimurium. Afterwards, induction of these SOS genes was studied. Results obtained show that the basal transcription of both recA and sfiA genes of E. coli was higher in S. typhimurium than in E. coli. Nevertheless, induction of recA and sfiA genes by UV-irradiation and mitomycin C was higher in E. coli than in S. typhimurium. On the other hand, umuC gene of E. coli presents the same basal level of transcription in both E. coli and S. typhimurium species, although induction of this gene by UV-irradiation and mitomycin C was higher in S. typhimurium than in E. coli. Therefore, the plasmid pUA25 constructed in this work may be used to introduce, using the Lambda phage as a vector, the SOS genes of E. coli in other bacterial species which may be useful to study the relationship between their respective SOS systems.

Bacterial Proteins

Changes in ATP concentration in Escherichia coli during induction of the SOS system by mitomycin C and bleomycin.

Treatment of Escherichia coli with bleomycin induced a dramatic increase in ATP concentration in the first 30 min. Afterwards, in RecA+ strains, ATP dropped quickly to values similar to those of untreated cells. Mutants of E. coli defective in either RecA protein or RecA protease activity did not show this decrease, indicating that it was due to the action of RecA protease. The increase in ATP in the first 30 min was dependent on RecBC exonuclease activity and must have been due to substrate level phosphorylation, since an uncoupler such as dinitrophenol did not affect it. Nevertheless, mitomycin C did not induce any change in ATP pools of RecA+ strains, at least during 120 min following treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the possible pathways of activation of RecA protease.

Adenosine Triphosphate

[Multiple clear-cell acanthoma].

Clear cell acanthoma is a benign tumor reported by Degos et al. in 1962. Most commonly the acanthoma presents as a solitary nodule on the lower limb in late middle-aged persons. We've found only 11 papers about multiple clear cell acanthoma. We describe a 73 years old patient who had 21 lesions, the highest number found in the literature.

Aged