DNA-glucosylation in T-even phage: genetic determination and role in phagehost interaction.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S E Luria.
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Mutants exb of Escherichia coli are insensitive to colicin B and excrete into their culture media a material that inhibits colicin activity and that appears to be the bacterial lipopolysaccharide.
The effect of colicins E1 and K on active transport of beta-d-galactosides and of alpha-methyl-d-glucoside (alphaMG) by Escherichia coli was studied. These colicins strongly inhibited the accumulation of thio-methyl-galactoside (TMG) by bacteria and caused rapid exit of previously accumulated TMG. The inhibition effect was limited to the accumulation phase of galactoside transport; the rate of hydrolysis of o-nitrophenyl galactoside, which is dependent on transport of the substrate by the lactose-permease system, was only slightly affected. The accumulation of alphaMG was highly resistant to inhibition by these colicins under conditions which caused complete suppression of TMG accumulation. These effects of the colicins on transport resemble qualitatively those of sodium azide. The findings were interpreted by assuming that colicins E1 and K inhibit the energy-dependent steps in the accumulation of TMG but do not affect facilitated diffusion of galactosides mediated by the specific transport mechanism. The continued accumulation of alphaMG was attributed to the fact that this compound is stored by E. coli cells as a phosphorylated compound by a phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent transport system rather than by an adenosine triphosphate-linked accumulation mechanism.
Colicins E1 and K inhibited a whole series of energy-dependent reactions in Escherichia coli cells, including motility, biosynthesis of nucleic acids, proteins and polysaccharides, and the conversion of ornithine to citrulline. Respiration was only partially affected, and substrates such as glucose continued to be catabolized through the normal pathways, albeit with reduced CO(2) production. The soluble products of aerobic glucose catabolism by colicin-treated cells were analyzed. Pyruvate replaced acetate as the major excreted product, and the following intermediates of glycolysis were excreted in significant amounts: glucose-6-phosphate, fructose-1,6-diphosphate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and 3-phosphoglycerate. Anaerobically growing cells manifested a somewhat enhanced tolerance to the colicins. This protection by anaerobiosis appeared to depend on the exclusion of oxygen more than on the extent of fermentative catabolism versus catabolism of the respiratory type. These results are interpreted in terms of possible functions of colicin in lowering the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content of the cells and in terms of the role of lowered ATP levels in inhibiting many of the energy-requiring reactions.
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A series of colicin-tolerant (tol) mutants of Escherichia coli K-12, which adsorbed colicins but were not killed by them, were isolated and studied genetically and physiologically. Three major classes of mutants were found: tol II, tolerant to colicins A, E1, E2, E3, and K; tol III, tolerant to A, E2, E3, and K; and tol VIII, tolerant to E1 only. The sites of tol II and tol III mutations mapped near the gal region (gene order: tol-gal-bio) and were cotransduced with gal by P1. In heterozygous diploids, tol(+) was dominant over tol; tol II and tol III gave full complementation. All the tol mutations that mapped near gal rendered the bacteria more fragile during growth and hypersensitive to deoxycholate and to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The tol VIII mutation mapped between str and his. These mutants were extremely sensitive to deoxycholate and were also hypersensitive to methylene blue, acridines, and various other compounds. The sensitivity is attributed to increased uptake due to selective alteration of the permeability barrier. The colicin-tolerant mutations are interpreted as affecting some components of the cytoplasmic membrane which mediate between the adsorbed colicin molecules and the target sites of their biochemical effects in the bacterial cell.
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