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Biomedical subjects

I E Wermundsen

Publications and source records attributed to I E Wermundsen.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1982

Constitutive expression of SOS functions and modulation of mutagenesis resulting from resolution of genetic instability at or near the recA locus of Escherichia coli.

Cellular activities normally inducible by DNA damage (SOS functions) are expressed, without DNA damage, in recA441 (formerly tif-1) mutants of Escherichia coli at 42 degrees C but not at 30 degrees C. We describe a strain (SC30) that expresses SOS functions (including mutator activity, prophage induction and copious synthesis of recA protein) constitutively at both temperatures. SC30 is one of four stable subclones (SC strains) derived from an unstable recombinant obtained in a conjugation between a recA441 K12 donor and a recA+ B/r-derived recipient. SC30 does not owe its SOS-constitutive phenotype to a mutation in the lexA gene (which codes the repressor of recA and other DNA damage-inducible genes), since it is lexA+. Each of the SC strains expresses SOS functions in a distinctively anomalous way. We show that the genetic basis for the differences in SOS expression among the SC strains is located at or very near the recA locus. We propose that resolution of genetic instability in this region, in the original recombinant, has altered the pattern of expression of SOS functions in the SC strains.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1977

Induction of lambda prophage and of mutations to streptomycin resistance in separate small fractions of a lysogenic derivative of Escherichia coli B/r by very low doses of ultraviolet light.

The number of induced mutations to streptomycin resistance is compared at doses of ultraviolet (UV) light between 0.2 and 6.4 J/m2 in a Uvr- (excision-deficient) derivative of E. coli B/r, strain WU, and in its lambda lysogen, strain WU(lambda). At UV doses up to about 1 J/m2, which converts about 5% of the lysogenic population into enfective centers, no difference is observed in the number of mutations to streptomycin resistance produced by the two strains. It is concluded that the capacity to produce UV-induced mutations is not coupled with lysis due to the induction of lambda prophage at low doses of UV radiation. At UV doses above 1 J/m2, the number of mutatants detected in the lysogenic strain decreases appreciably compared to the number detected in the nonlysogen, and is only about 10% as high at UV doses of 3 J/m2 and higher, doses which cause maximal induction of prophage. The results are compatible with the operation of a common "all-or-none" induction signal resulting in expression of UV-inducible functions at high UV doses, but not at low doses.

Coliphages↗
PubMed1969

Unstable binary capsulated transformants in pneumococcus.

Through transformation reactions, binary capsulated SI-III strains of pneumococci have been isolated that are unstable and lose the SI capsular genome at high frequency. The instability is caused by the specific mutation in the SIII capsular genome common to all of the unstable strains. In the family of strains studied, the SI capsular genome was integrated into the recipient chromosome in at least two loci: one apparently adjacent to the resident capsular genome and a second some distance from it. A hypothesis is presented to explain the instability of the strains on the basis of redundancy of genetic information.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1968

Mutation in pneumococcus type 3 affecting multiple cistrons concerned with the synthesis of capsular polysaccharide.

The genetic behavior in transformation reactions of 20 noncapsulated mutants of pneumococcus type III suggests that each has a single-site mutation in the locus controlling the synthesis of uridine diphosphate glucose (UDPG) dehydrogenase. Each strain is capable of yielding transformants of the binary capsular type SI-III when exposed to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from type I cells. One additional mutant reacted differently and behaved as if it were a multisite mutant with the mutation affecting both the locus for UDPG dehydrogenase and that controlling the synthesis of high molecular weight type III capsular polysaccharide. When exposed to DNA from type I pneumococci, this strain yielded transformants which were genotypically binary but which expressed only the type I capsular phenotype.

DNA, Bacterial↗
PubMed1967

Qualitative differences in the behavior of pneumoncoccal deoxyribonucleic acids transforming to the same capsular type.

A method is described for estimating quantitatively the frequency of transformation of pneumococci to new capsular types. It is found that, when S-(III) cells are exposed to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from wild-type I strains, transformation to SI occurs at a frequency 20 to 60 times that of transformation to the binary type SI-III. SI markers on DNA isolated from binary strains behave qualitatively and quantitatively in a different manner from the same markers on DNA from wild-type I strains and will transform S-(III) cells only to SI-III. Strains are described which produce only one capsular polysaccharide, but which are genetically binary and carry a second capsular genome with a mutated gene so that the second polysaccharide is not produced. Stability and other characteristics of binary strains are discussed, and one hypothesis for the genetic organization of binary strains is presented.

Chromosome Mapping↗