Roles of RecBC enzyme and chi sites in homologous recombination.
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Cloned into Escherichia coli the recB, recC and recD genes of Proteus mirabilis produce a recBCD enzyme (exoV) functional in recombination and DNA repair. The direction of transcription of recB, recC and recD, the sizes of the enzyme subunits, and their composition in the active enzyme are similar to that observed for the E. coli enzyme. In lambda crosses, the P. mirabilis enzyme has only about 40% of the Chi activity of the E. coli enzyme. The recBCD genes were also cloned from an exoV mutant of P. mirabilis which is u.v.-sensitive and partly deficient in exoV. The defect was attributed to the recB gene by complementation studies. In a recBCD deletion strain of E. coli, the enzyme from the mutant produced 40% of conjugational recombinants and had retained about 25% of Chi activity. However, it did not restore normal DNA repair, cell viability or recombination in lambda crosses and P1 transduction. The new mutant phenotype is discussed in the light of the assumption that prokaryotic recBCD enzymes can promote recombination in a Chi-dependent and a Chi-independent manner.
An Escherichia coli recBCD deletion mutant was transformed with plasmids containing the Bacillus subtilis add genes. The transformants had relatively high ATP-dependent exonuclease- and ATP-dependent helicase activities, and their viability, the ability to repair u.v.-damaged DNA and the recombination in conjugation were nearly completely restored. The B. subtilis Add enzyme did not show Chi-activity in phage lambda recombination. The individual B. subtilis Add proteins were not able to form an enzymatically active complex with the E. coli RecB,C,D proteins, and they could not complement the recB,C,D deficiency. Evidence is presented that only two subunits are involved in the B. subtilis ATP-dependent exonuclease. This is in contrast to E. coli in which the RecBCD enzyme consists of three subunits.
Mutations in the genes recA and recBC were constructed in the virulent Salmonella typhimurium strain 14028s. Both the recA and recBC mutants were attenuated in mice. The mutants were also sensitive to killing by macrophages in vitro. The recombination mutants were no longer macrophage sensitive in a variant line of J774 macrophage-like cells that fail to generate superoxide. This suggests that repair of DNA damage by Salmonella is necessary for full virulence in vivo and that the oxidative burst of phagocytes is one source of such DNA damage.
A rep mutation in combination with a recB or a recC mutation renders Escherichia coli non-viable. This conclusion is based on the following lines of evidence: (i) double mutants cannot be constructed by P1 transduction; (ii) induction of the lambda Gam protein, which inactivates most of the RecBCD activities, is lethal in rep mutants; (iii) rep recBts recCts mutants are not viable at high temperature. The resons for a requirement for the RecBCD enzyme in rep strains were investigated. Initiation of chromosome replication, elongation and chromosomal segregation do not seem impaired in the rep recBtsrecCts mutant at the non-permissive temperature. The viability of other rep derivatives was tested. rep recA recD triple mutants are not viable, whereas rep recD and rep recA double mutants are. Inactivation of both exoV activity and recBC-dependent homologous recombination is therefore responsible for the non-viability of rep recBC strains. However, sbcA and sbcB mutations, which render recBC mutants recombination proficient, do not restore viability of rep recBC mutants, indicating that recombination via the RecF or the RecE pathways cannot functionally replace RecBCD-mediated recombination. The specific requirement for RecBCD suggests the occurrence of double-strand DNA breaks in rep strains. Additional arguments in favour of the presence of DNA lesions in rep mutants are as follows: (i) expression of SOS repair functions delays lethality of rep derivatives after inactivation of RecBCD; (ii) sensitivity of rep strains to ultraviolet light is increased by partial inactivation of RecBCD. A model for the recovery of cells from double-strand breaks in rep mutants is discussed.
Single-strand interruptions in a template DNA are likely to cause collapse of replication forks. We propose a model for the repair of collapsed replication forks in Escherichia coli by the RecBCD recombinational pathway. The model gives reasons for the preferential orientation of Chi sites in the E. coli chromosome and accounts for the hyper-rec phenotype of the strains with increased numbers of single-strand interruptions in their DNA. On the basis of the model we offer schemes for various repeat-mediated recombinational events and discuss a mechanism for quasi-conservative DNA replication explaining the recombinational repair-associated mutagenesis.
[3H]dGMP-3'-labelled, activated salmon testis DNA and [32P]dGMP-5'-labelled open circular M13 DNA were reacted with cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), cis-diamminechloroaquaplatinum(II), cis-diamminediaquaplatinum(II) or trans-diamminechloroaquaplatinum(II). The reaction was arrested after arbitrary times by adjustment to slightly alkaline solution conditions. The platinum-containing DNA was digested with Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I. The progress of nucleotide release was measured by acid precipitation of undigested DNA. Solubilized nucleotides and adducts were analyzed by HPLC. The 3'-5'-exonuclease activity liberated single-coordinated dGMP-platinum(II) adducts from both cis- and trans-platinum(II) treated salmon testis DNA and a small fraction of adducts of cis-platinum(II) that coordinated two molecules of dGMP. The bisadduct was derived from non-neighboring guanine residues probably located at or close to 3'-termini. This nuclease activity neither cut between nor after neighboring guanine residues crosslinked by cis-platinum(II). No bisadduct was liberated for trans-platinum(II). The 5'-3'-exonuclease activity did not liberate any nucleotide adducts from cis-platinum(II)-treated DNa. However, it removed single-coordinated guanine adducts of trans-diamminedichloroplatinum(II). From the kinetics of the appearance of dGMP monoadducts and the inhibition of digestion, a reaction scheme is formulated for the reaction of platinum(II) complexes with DNA that confirms and extends the previously published one [W. Schaller, H. Reisner & E. Holler (1987) Biochemistry 26, 943-950]. The longevity of the dGMP monoadduct intermediate is discussed in the context of the efficiency of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) as an antitumor drug.
Purification of the ATP-dependent homologous pairing activity from Ustilago maydis yields a protein preparation that is enriched for a 70-kDa polypeptide as determined by SDS-gel electrophoresis. The protein responsible for the ATP-dependent pairing activity, using renaturation of complementary single strands of DNA as an assay, has a Stokes radius of 3.6 nm and a sedimentation coefficient of 4.3 S consistent with the interpretation that the activity arises from a monomeric globular protein of 70 kDa. Including heparin-agarose and FPLC gel filtration chromatography steps in the previously published protocol improves the purification of the protein. ATP and Mg2+ are necessary cofactors for optimal DNA renaturation activity. ADP inhibits the reaction. Analysis of the ATP-dependent renaturation kinetics indicates the reaction proceeds through a first-order mechanism. The protein has an associated DNA-dependent ATPase as indicated by co-chromatography with the purified ATP-dependent renaturation activity through an FPLC gel-filtration column. Single-stranded DNA and Mg2+ are required for optimal ATP hydrolytic activity, although a number of other polynucleotides and divalent cations can substitute to varying degrees. Hydrolysis of ATP is activated in a sigmoidal manner with increasing amounts of the protein. At ATP concentrations below 0.1 mM the ATPase activity exhibits positive cooperativity as indicated from the Hill coefficient of 1.8 determined by steady-state kinetic analysis of the reaction. ADP and adenosine 5'-[beta,gamma-imido]triphosphate are inhibitors of the ATPase activity although they appear to exert their inhibitory effects through different modes. These results are interpreted as evidence for protein-protein interactions.
The repair of double strand breaks after gamma-irradiation in wild-type Escherichia coli lysogenic for lambda cI857 red3 is more efficient when lambda Gam protein is present. This phenomenon, called gam dependent radioresistance, requires the interaction of RecBCD enzyme and Gam protein. We compared cell survival after gamma-irradiation in wild-type and mutant lysogens with and without induction of Gam by transient heat treatment of the cells (6 min, 42 degrees C). The main conclusions are: (1) the RecBCD-Gam pathway of recombination repair is similar but not equivalent to RecBCD, a pathway operating in recD mutants; (2) the RecBCD-Gam pathway is dependent on recJ, recQ and recN gene products and it is proposed that the RecBCD-Gam complex has ability to load RecA protein onto single strand DNA.
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Stationary-phase mutation (a subset of which was previously called adaptive mutation) occurs in apparently nondividing, stationary-phase cells exposed to a nonlethal genetic selection. In one experimental system, stationary-phase reversion of an Escherichia coli F'-borne lac frameshift mutation occurs by a novel molecular mechanism that requires homologous recombination functions of the RecBCD system. Chromosomal mutations at multiple loci are detected more frequently in Lac+ stationary-phase revertants than in cells that were also exposed to selection but did not become Lac+. Thus, mutating cells represent a subpopulation that experiences hypermutation throughout the genome. This paper summarizes current knowledge regarding stationary-phase mutation in the lac system. Hypotheses for the mechanism of chromosomal hypermutation are discussed, and data are presented that exclude one hypothetical mechanism in which chromosomal mutations result from Hfr formation.
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Expansion of DNA trinucleotide repeats (TNRs) is the causative mutation in a growing number of human genetic diseases. Large expansions of a CTG tract were obtained and shown by genetic and physical assays to be length-dependent sites of chromosome breakage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deletion of RAD27, which encodes a nuclease involved in Okazaki fragment processing, caused length-dependent destabilization of CTG tracts and a substantial increase in expansion frequency. The genetic assay described here can be used to evaluate other factors that induce TNR expansion or chromosome fragility in humans.
Simple repetitive DNA sequences are unstable in human colorectal cancers and a variety of other cancers. Mutations in the DNA mismatch repair genes MSH2, MLH1, and PMS1 result in elevated rates of spontaneous mutation and cause a marked increase in the instability of simple repeats. Compared with the wild type, a null mutation in the yeast RTH1 gene, which encodes a 5' to 3' exonuclease, was shown to increase the rate of instability of simple repetitive DNA by as much as 280 times and to increase the spontaneous mutation rate by 30 times. Epistasis analyses were consistent with the hypothesis that this RTH1-encoded nuclease has a role in the MSH2-MLH-1-PMS1 mismatch repair pathway.
Adaptive reversion of a +1 frameshift mutation in Escherichia coli, which requires homologous recombination functions, is shown here to occur by -1 deletions in regions of small mononucleotide repeats. This pattern makes improbable recombinational mechanisms for adaptive mutation in which blocks of sequences are transferred into the mutating gene, and it supports mechanisms that use DNA polymerase errors. The pattern appears similar to that of mutations found in yeast cells and in hereditary colon cancer cells that are deficient in mismatch repair. These results suggest a recombinational mechanism for adaptive mutation that functions through polymerase errors that persist as a result of a deficiency in post-synthesis mismatch repair.
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The genetic requirements for adaptive mutation in Escherichia coli parallel those for homologous recombination in the RecBCD pathway. Recombination-deficient recA and recB null mutant strains are deficient in adaptive reversion. A hyper-recombinagenic recD strain is hypermutable, and its hypermutation depends on functional recA and recB genes. Genes of subsidiary recombination systems are not required. These results indicate that the molecular mechanism by which adaptive mutation occurs includes recombination. No such association is seen for spontaneous mutation in growing cells.