Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1977 Sep;74(9):3932–3936. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.9.3932

Involvement of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase in a recA-independent pathway of genetic recombination in Escheria coli.

H Ikeda, I Kobayashi
PMCID: PMC431790  PMID: 333450

Abstract

Recombinant DNA molecule of phage lambda formed in Escherichia coli in the presence of chloramphenicol and/or rifampin can be assayed by their biological activity. recA- cells were found to be capable of forming recombinant lambda phage DNA in the presence of chloramphenicol. The relatively high recA-independent recombination observed in this system contrasts with the relatively low recA-independent recombination when recombinant phage particles rather than recombinant DNA are titrated. Formation of the recombinant DNA was suppressed by the the addition of rifampin. The introduction of the rif-r mutation into host bacteria made their recombination activity rifampin-resistant. These results show that DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (EC 2.7.7.6) is involved in this recA-independent pathway of recombination, which is named the "Rpo pathway." This is distinct from Red, Int, RecBC, RecE, or Der pathways of recombination. Crossover was much more frequent in the N-PL-cI and cI-PR-O regions than in the A-D and O-S regions. The crossover seems to occur in the regions that are transcribed actively. Some local change of DNA structure caused by transcription might be required for the Rpo pathway of recombination.

Full text

PDF
3932

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bachmann B. J. Pedigrees of some mutant strains of Escherichia coli K-12. Bacteriol Rev. 1972 Dec;36(4):525–557. doi: 10.1128/br.36.4.525-557.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Clark A. J. Toward a metabolic interpretation of genetic recombination of E. coli and its phages. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1971;25:437–464. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.25.100171.002253. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DeVries J. K., Maas W. K. Chromosomal integration of F' factors in recombination-deficient Hfr strains of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1971 Apr;106(1):150–156. doi: 10.1128/jb.106.1.150-156.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Echolas H., Gingery R. Mutants of bacteriophage lambda defective in vegetative genetic recombination. J Mol Biol. 1968 Jul 14;34(2):239–249. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90249-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fiandt M., Szybalski W., Blattner F. R., Jaskunas S. R., Lindahl L., Nomura M. Organization of ribosomal protein genes in Escherichia coli. I. Physical structure of DNA from transducing lambda phages carrying genes from the aroE-str region. J Mol Biol. 1976 Sep 25;106(3):817–835. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(76)90267-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gottesman M. M., Gottesman M. E., Gottesman S., Gellert M. Characterization of bacteriophage lambda reverse as an Escherichia coli phage carrying a unique set of host-derived recombination functions. J Mol Biol. 1974 Sep 15;88(2):471–487. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(74)90496-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Howard-Flanders P., Theriot L. Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 defective in DNA repair and in genetic recombination. Genetics. 1966 Jun;53(6):1137–1150. doi: 10.1093/genetics/53.6.1137. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kleckner N., Chan R. K., Tye B. K., Botstein D. Mutagenesis by insertion of a drug-resistance element carrying an inverted repetition. J Mol Biol. 1975 Oct 5;97(4):561–575. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(75)80059-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kobayashi I., Ikeda H. Formation of recombinant DNA of bacteriophage lambda by recA function of Escherichia coli without duplication, transcription, translation, and maturation. Mol Gen Genet. 1977 Jun 24;153(3):237–245. doi: 10.1007/BF00431589. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Konrad M. W. Dependence of "early" lambda bacteriophage RNA synthesis on bacteriophage-directed protein synthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1968 Jan;59(1):171–178. doi: 10.1073/pnas.59.1.171. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kopecko D. J., Cohen S. N. Site specific recA--independent recombination between bacterial plasmids: involvement of palindromes at the recombinational loci. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Apr;72(4):1373–1377. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.4.1373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kourilsky P., Marcaud L., Sheldrick P., Luzzati D., Gros F. Studies of the messenger RNA of bacteriophage lambda, I. Various species synthesized early after induction of the prophage. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1968 Nov;61(3):1013–1020. doi: 10.1073/pnas.61.3.1013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Otsubo E., Deonier R. C., Lee H. J., Davidson N. Electron microscope heteroduplex studies of sequence relations among plasmids of Escherichia coli. IV. The F sequences in F14. J Mol Biol. 1974 Nov 15;89(4):565–584. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(74)90036-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Sobell H. M. A mechanism to activate branch migration between homologous DNA molecules in genetic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Jan;72(1):279–283. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.1.279. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sobell H. M. Symmetry in protein-nucleic acid interaction and its genetic implications. Adv Genet. 1973;17:411–490. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2660(08)60175-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Stahl F. W., McMilin K. D., Stahl M. M., Crasemann J. M., Lam S. The distribution of crossovers along unreplicated lambda bacteriophage chromosomes. Genetics. 1974 Jul;77(3):395–408. doi: 10.1093/genetics/77.3.395. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Templin A., Kushner S. R., Clark A. J. Genetic analysis of mutations indirectly suppressing recB and recC mutations. Genetics. 1972 Oct;72(2):105–115. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wagner R. E., Jr, Radman M. A mechanism for initiation of genetic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Sep;72(9):3619–3622. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.9.3619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES