PubMed HealthSearch

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “bacterial coding sequence”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Cloning of the Vibrio harveyi luciferase genes: use of a synthetic oligonucleotide probe.

A mixed-sequence synthetic oligonucleotide probe was used to isolate a clone containing the gene encoding the alpha subunit of bacterial luciferase from Vibrio harveyi and part of the gene coding for the beta subunit. DNA sequence analysis has allowed us to determine that the genes are closely linked on the bacterial chromosome and transcribed in the same direction. Comparison of the sequences in the regions preceding the two structural genes has revealed considerable homology and has identified sites that may be involved in the expression of the genes. Identification of a clone from a clone bank of total genomic DNA from this organism shows that mixed probes can be successfully used to isolate a gene of interest from any bacterium provided some protein sequence for the gene product is available.

Amino Acid Sequence

The meta cleavage operon of TOL degradative plasmid pWW0 comprises 13 genes.

The meta-cleavage operon of TOL plasmid pWW0 of Pseudomonas putida encodes a set of enzymes which transform benzoate/toluates to Krebs cycle intermediates via extradiol (meta-) cleavage of (methyl)catechol. The genetic organization of the operon was characterized by cloning of the meta-cleavage genes into an expression vector and identification of their products in Escherichia coli maxicells. This analysis showed that the meta-cleavage operon contains 13 genes whose order and products (in kilodaltons) are xylX(57)-xylY(20)-xylZ(39)-xylL(28)-xylT(1 2)-xylE(36)-xylG(60)-xylF(34)- xylJ(28)-xylQ(42)-xylK(39)-xylI(29)-xylH(4 ). The xylXYZ genes encode three subunits of toluate 1,2-dioxygenase. The xylL, xylE, xylG, xylF, xylJ, xylK, xylI, and xylH genes encode 1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-cyclohexadiene-1-carboxylate dehydrogenase, catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase, 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde hydrolase, 2-oxopent-4-enoate hydratase, 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate aldolase, 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylase and 4-oxaloccotonate tautomerase, respectively. The functions of xylT and xylQ are not known at present. The comparison of the coding capacity and the sizes of the products of the meta-cleavage operon genes indicated that most of the DNA between xylX and xylH consists of coding sequences.

Bacterial Proteins

Yolk polypeptide gene expression in cultured Drosophila cells.

The transfer of chimaeric plasmids to Drosophila melanogaster cell lines has been examined as a system for investigation of the hormonal regulation of the genes coding for D. melanogaster yolk polypeptide 1 (YP1) and Locusta migratoria vitellogenin B (VgB). Constructs containing promoters and putative 5'-regulatory sequences from these genes, ligated to bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) coding DNA, were transfected into Drosophila Kc (Kc-H) and S3 cells, and transient expression of CAT was assayed. Activity was expressed both from the homologous promoter of pYP1CAT and from the heterologous locust promoter of pVgCAT at comparable levels. In S3 cells, with calcium phosphate-mediated transfer of pYP1CAT there was a twofold induction of CAT activity after the addition of 10(-6) M ecdysterone, but no hormonal stimulation was noted when the polycation polybrene was used to achieve transfection. For Kc cells, calcium phosphate was ineffective for transfection, and after transfection with polybrene neither pYP1CAT nor pVgCAT was induced by the juvenile hormone (JH) analog methoprene. It is concluded that S3 cells may be useful for investigating the molecular basis of gene regulation by ecdysteroids, but conditions suitable for the analysis of JH action have not yet been established.

Animals

Regulated expression of foreign genes in mammalian cells under the control of coliphage T3 RNA polymerase and lac repressor.

Systems that stringently regulate the expression of individual genes within a complex genetic background have contributed greatly to the analysis of gene function. In this report the development of a highly regulated expression system in mammalian cells is described in which transcription of a foreign gene is mediated by the bacteriophage T3 RNA polymerase under the control of the Escherichia coli lac repressor. Rabbit kidney cell lines have been established that constitutively express the phage RNA polymerase and lac repressor. The two bacterial proteins regulate the transcription of the coding sequence of the firefly luciferase, which has been placed under the control of a T3 promoter/lac operator fusion. In the presence of the inducer isopropyl beta-D-thiogalactoside, efficient T3 polymerase-dependent transcription is observed, which is tightly repressed in the absence of inducer. Translation of the T3 transcripts can be mediated by vaccinia virus functions. The demonstration that a specific transcription activity can be regulated over a range of several orders of magnitude in higher eukaryotic cells by using a highly specific and nontoxic inducer has broad implications for a variety of studies.

Animals

Specific truncations of an acetolactate synthase gene from Brassica napus efficiently complement ilvB/ilvG mutants of Salmonella typhimurium.

The expression of an acetolactate synthase (ALS) gene isolated from the cruciferous plant Brassica napus was investigated in Salmonella typhimurium. Using an expression plasmid containing the highly active trc (trp-lac) promoter, several plant ALS constructs were made containing successive in-frame truncations from the 5' end of the coding region. Functional complementation by these plant ALS constructs of a S. typhimurium mutant devoid of ALS enzymic activity was assayed on minimal medium. Truncations which eliminated a large portion of the transit peptide coding sequence proved to act as efficient ALS genes in the bacterial host. Truncations close to the putative processing site of the plant protein were inactive in the complementation test. A full length copy of the gene, including the entire transit peptide coding region, was also inactive. The efficiency of the complementation, estimated by comparison to the growth rate of wild-type S. typhimurium, was found to correlate with levels of ALS activity in the transformed bacteria. Specific mutations, known to produce herbicide resistance in plants, were introduced into the truncated ALS coding sequence by site-directed mutagenesis. When expressed in bacteria these constructs conferred a herbicide resistance phenotype on the host. The potential of this system for mutagenesis and enzymological studies of plant proteins is discussed.

Acetolactate Synthase

Selenocysteine: the 21st amino acid.

Great excitement was elicited in the field of selenium biochemistry in 1986 by the parallel discoveries that the genes encoding the selenoproteins glutathione peroxidase and bacterial formate dehydrogenase each contain an in-frame TGA codon within their coding sequence. We now know that this codon directs the incorporation of selenium, in the form of selenocysteine, into these proteins. Working with the bacterial system has led to a rapid increase in our knowledge of selenocysteine biosynthesis and to the exciting discovery that this system can now be regarded as an expansion of the genetic code. The prerequisites for such a definition are co-translational insertion into the polypeptide chain and the occurrence of a tRNA molecule which carries selenocysteine. Both of these criteria are fulfilled and, moreover, tRNASec even has its own special translation factor which delivers it to the translating ribosome. It is the aim of this article to review the events leading to the elucidation of selenocysteine as being the 21st amino acid.

Bacterial Proteins

The alpha 2 cDNA sequence of human haptoglobin carries a bacterial promoter functional in vivo.

Various constructions of human haptoglobin (Hp) cDNA coding either for the complete alpha 2FS beta precursor protein or only for the beta subunit have been placed under the control of the lambda PR promoter in the bacterial expression vector pCQV2 (Queen, 1983). In addition to the expected 45,000 dalton polypeptide synthesized after induction of the PR promoter, the complete alpha 2FS beta constructions constitutively express a smaller polypeptide of approximately 30,000 dalton corresponding to a truncated Hp protein. Computer analysis of the HpcDNA revealed the presence of two strong potential bacterial promoters (alpha 2 PF and alpha 2 PS) located in the duplicated alpha 2FS sequence. Both Hp promoter signals are followed by potential mRNA start sites and ribosome binding sites at a compatible distance from initiation codons. In addition, the Hp alpha 2 cDNA sequence, when fused upstream to the cDNA coding for alpha 1-antitrypsin, constitutively promotes in vivo the efficient expression of an hybrid protein specifically recognized by antibodies raised against alpha 1-antitrypsin or haptoglobin.

Cloning, Molecular

Gene UL2 of herpes simplex virus type 1 encodes a uracil-DNA glycosylase.

An insertion mutant of herpes simplex virus type 1 has been constructed which carries the lacZ gene from Escherichia coli within the coding sequence of gene UL2, which is in the long unique region of the genome. In a one-step growth curve experiment this recombinant (called in 1601) grew as well as the wild-type (wt) parent virus, indicating that the UL2 gene is dispensable for growth in tissue culture. Analysis of in 1601 DNA with restriction endonucleases showed no detectable changes from the wt apart from the insertion. Extracts of cells infected with in 1601 possessed levels of viral DNA polymerase and alkaline exonuclease activities similar to those infected with the wt, but unlike the wt had negligible uracil-DNA glycosylase activity, suggesting strongly that the product of the UL2 gene is the uracil-DNA glycosylase. The sequence of the uracil-DNA glycosylase gene of E. coli was recently published, and the encoded amino acid sequence of this shows clear similarity to that of UL2, confirming our results.

Amino Acid Sequence

A sensitive genetic assay for the detection of cytosine deamination: determination of rate constants and the activation energy.

Previously it has not been possible to determine the rate of deamination of cytosine in DNA at 37 degrees C because this reaction occurs so slowly. We describe here a sensitive genetic assay to measure the rate of cytosine deamination in DNA at a single cytosine residue. The assay is based on reversion of a mutant in the lacZ alpha gene coding sequence of bacteriophage M13mp2 and employs ung- bacterial strains lacking the enzyme uracil glycosylase. The assay is sufficiently sensitive to allow us to detect, at a given site, a single deamination event occurring with a background frequency as low as 1 in 200,000. With this assay, we determined cytosine deamination rate constants in single-stranded DNA at temperatures ranging from 30 to 90 degrees C and then calculated that the activation energy for cytosine deamination in single-stranded DNA is 28 +/- 1 kcal/mol. At 80 degrees C, deamination rate constants at six sites varied by less than a factor of 3. At 37 degrees C, the cytosine deamination rate constants for single- and double-stranded DNA at pH 7.4 are 1 x 10(-10) and about 7 x 10(-13) per second, respectively. (In other words, the measured half-life for cytosine in single-stranded DNA at 37 degrees C is ca. 200 years, while in double-stranded DNA it is on the order of 30,000 years.) Thus, cytosine is deaminated approximately 140-fold more slowly when present in the double helix. These and other data indicate that the rate of deamination is strongly dependent upon DNA structure and the degree of protonation of the cytosine. The data suggest that agents which perturb DNA structure or facilitate direct protonation of cytosine may induce deamination at biologically significant rates. The assay provides a means to directly test the hypothesis.

Bacteriophages

In vitro expression of rat lens aldose reductase in Escherichia coli.

Aldose reductase (alditol:NADP+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.21), an enzyme that converts glucose to sorbitol, the first step of the polyol pathway, has been implicated in secondary complications of diabetes, such as cataracts, retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. Aldose reductase inhibitors have been observed to prevent or delay the onset of these complications; however, more potent and specific inhibitors are needed. Development of new inhibitors necessitates a better understanding of the molecular structure of this protein. To elucidate the structure-function relationships of aldose reductase and to develop methods of regulating this enzyme, large and homogeneous quantities of rat lens aldose reductase have been expressed in bacterial cells. A construction of the complete coding sequence and 3' untranslated region for rat lens aldose reductase was assembled in the expression vector pKK233-2 (Pharmacia). This construction expresses an active enzyme that has been purified and demonstrates kinetic, immunological, and inhibitory properties similar to rat lens aldose reductase.

Aldehyde Reductase

Expression of genes introduced into cells by retroviral infection is more efficient than that of genes introduced into cells by DNA transfection.

Calcium phosphate-mediated DNA transfection and retroviral infection are two alternative gene transfer techniques designed to introduce specific DNA fragments into the chromosomes of recipient cells. To compare the efficiency of expression of genes introduced into cells by either of these two techniques, a retrovirus-derived vector was constructed from the genome of Moloney murine leukemia virus by replacing the coding sequences of the envelope gene with the bacterial Neor gene derived from Tn5, termed rEnv-Neor. Expression of the hybrid Neor gene in NIH 3T3 cells after DNA transfection or retroviral infection was determined by measuring the steady-state levels of the corresponding cytoplasmic polyadeylated RNA species. Cells containing one copy of the integrated rEnv-Neor DNA introduced into cells by retroviral infection expressed 10- to 50-fold-higher levels of vector-specific RNA compared with cells harboring one copy of the same DNA derived by DNA transfection. Analysis of the integrated rEnv-Neor DNA with the methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme SmaI has shown that DNA integrated after DNA transfection but not after viral infection is partially methylated, predominantly in the 5' long terminal repeat, the region involved in initiation of transcription.

Animals

[Cloning preprolactin cDNA from Pacific salmon in Escherichia coli].

Prolactin coding mRNA was shown to be a prevalent part of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) pituitary poly(A)-RNA during the spawning period. Clone lambda gtPrk12 was selected from the pituitary cDNA library by means of hybridization with the prolactin probe, and a nucleotide sequence of the insertion was determined and compared to the prolactin coding sequences from rainbow trout and Pacific chinook salmon, which had been published earlier. The sequences compared exhibited a significant homology. The deduced amino acid sequence of the chum salmon prolactin differed from a sequence determined directly in a single position. The prolactin-coding sequence can be used for constructing the bacterial strain producing prolactin.

Amino Acid Sequence

Coding and noncoding sequences at the 3' end of yeast histone H2B mRNA confer cell cycle regulation.

Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) histone mRNA synthesis is tightly regulated to the S phase of the cell division cycle as a result of both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation. We focused on the role of posttranscriptional control in histone H2B1 gene (HTB1) regulation and studied a portion of the HTB1 message required for cell-cycle-specific accumulation. The 3' end of the HTB1 gene containing a 17-amino-acid coding sequence and entire noncoding sequence was fused to the bacterial neomycin phosphotransferase II gene (neo) under control of the GAL1 promoter. The expression of the endogenous and chimeric HTB1 genes was analyzed during the yeast cell cycle. As yeast cells entered a synchronous cell cycle following release from alpha-factor arrest, the level of GAL1-promoter-controlled neo-HTB1 message increased approximately 12-fold during S phase and dropped to basal level when the cells left S phase. This indicates that the 3' end of the HTB1 mRNA is capable of conferring cycle-specific regulation on a heterologous message. Deletion analysis of the 3' end showed that the signal for cell cycle control of HTB1 mRNA includes contiguous coding and noncoding sequences surrounding the stop codon. This differs from the situation in mammalian cells, whose posttranscriptional regulation of histone genes is mediated through a short sequence containing a stem-loop structure near the very terminus of the untranslated 3' end.

Base Sequence

Nucleotide sequence analysis of 2''-aminoglycoside nucleotidyl-transferase ANT(2'') from Tn4000: its relationship with AAD(3'') and impact on Tn21 evolution.

Aminoglycoside 2''-O-nucleotidyltransferase (AAD(2'')) mediates bacterial resistance to dibekacin, gentamicin, kanamycin, sisomicin and tobramycin. Its coding sequence, aadB, is part of Tn21-related transposon, Tn4000. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed the presence of an open reading frame capable of specifying a protein of 177 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 21,240. The predicted amino acid sequence revealed up to 27% homology to that of three nucleotidyltransferases of type AAD(3''), which are widely distributed among Gram-negatives, and to the AAD(9) from Staphylococcus aureus transposon Tn554. The regions flanking aadB suggest that its insertion into Tn21 arose from a site-specific recombination event adjacent to the aadA gene.

Amino Acid Sequence

Expression of rat heme oxygenase in Escherichia coli as a catalytically active, full-length form that binds to bacterial membranes.

A plasmid, pKK-RHO, was constructed by incorporating the coding sequence of a cDNA for rat heme oxygenase into the expression vector pKK233-2. Escherichia coli strain XL1-blue transformed with pKK-RHO produced a catalytically active, full-length heme oxygenase. The 32-kDa native enzyme expressed, was localized in the bacterial membranes, possibly due to the spontaneous membrane-binding properties of a hydrophobic segment in its C-terminal region. During cultivation, a few degraded forms of heme oxygenase that had lost their membrane-associative properties appeared. Probably, some bacterial proteases cut the native heme oxygenase at sites near its C-terminus and so release hydrophilic peptides of heme oxygenase from the membranes. A 30-kDa polypeptide, one of the degraded forms of heme oxygenase, retained ability to accept electrons from NADPH--cytochrome P450 reductase and also activity for catalyzing breakdown of heme to biliverdin. The cultured cells were pale green. From them we extracted green pigment(s), of which the absorption spectrum closely resembled that of biliverdin, suggesting that a large amount of the endogenous heme of E. coli was actually degraded to biliverdin by the expressed heme oxygenase.

Animals

The Yang and Yin of cell proliferation: an overview.

Cell proliferation is a regulated process. The major events that determine production of new cells, from growth factors stimulation to cell division, are briefly summarized. Regulation of cell growth is exerted on specific cell cycle events. It depends upon specially evolved biochemical mechanisms, based on molecules additional to the functional molecules which control catalysis, or genetic sequences which code for proteins (as for regulation of bacterial enzyme and gene activities). The principle of Yang and Yin--the balance between opposing natural forces--is emphasized as a fundamental property of growth regulation. Such a balance creates a dynamic state that is far more responsive to effectors than is a process modified by a unidirectionally controlling agent. Derangements of dynamically controlled processes can seriously upset metabolic balances in a cell. Our understanding of growth control and its derangements in cancer depends on discovery of these regulatory molecules and processes.

Animals

Schistosoma mansoni: cloning of a complementary DNA encoding a cytosolic Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase and high-yield expression of the enzymatically active gene product in Escherichia coli.

We recently purified a 16-kDa cytosolic Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (CT Cu/Zn-SOD) from Schistosoma mansoni, a human parasite. Three peptide sequences were obtained, one from the unblocked N-terminal and two from internal peptides which were generated by digestions with trypsin and cyanogen bromide. These sequences were aligned to the corresponding sequences of 19 cytosolic Cu/Zn-SODs from various species. Degenerate oligonucleotides were then designed according to the sequence and the position of each peptide. The oligonucleotides were used to amplify a complete cDNA using the polymerase chain reaction with either adult schistosome total RNA or a cercariae lambda gt11 phage cDNA library as the template. The protein encoded by the cDNA has 153 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 15,693. It also has 60-65% homology to 19 cytosolic Cu/Zn-SOD from various species. All of the copper/zinc binding sites and SOD activity sites are conserved. Computer analysis predicts that the Cu/Zn-SOD has a pI value of 6.6, which is very close to the experimental results of IEF analysis (6.0 and 6.3). The entire coding sequence from the cDNA was cloned into a bacterial alkaline phosphatase cytosolic expression vector and a large amount of soluble product was expressed and purified to homogeneity. We compared the bacterially expressed Cu/Zn-SOD with the native enzyme derived from schistosomes and found that they are identical by the following criteria: (1) They focus at the same positions on IEF gels; (2) they form dimers in solution as measured by gel filtration; (3) they have the same unblocked N-terminal sequence; (4) they both are enzymatically active with comparable specific activities. The specific activity of the bacterially derived enzyme was increased somewhat (approximately 10%) by incubation with copper and zinc ions.

Amino Acid Sequence