Showing papers in "Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology in 1981"

Structural analysis of Tn5.

Abstract: Nucleotide sequences have been determined for the 1.5-kb inverted repeats of Tn5 and for their junctions with the central unique region and with host DNA. The primary findings stemming from this analysis are: 1. Integration of Tn5 is accompanied by the duplication of 9 bp of host DNA. 2. Loss of Tn5 occurs by crossover between short, homologous nucleotide sequences near the junction between Tn5 and host DNA. 3. The IR sequences contain long, open translational reading frames that may code for transposase proteins. 4. The two IR sequences differ by a single-base change. This alteration accounts for the two functional differences observed between IRL and IRR: It shortens the reading frame for the transposase gene in IRL, and it improves the efficiency of a promoter for the nearby Km-resistance gene. 5. The NH2 terminus of the structural gene for the Km-resistance gene maps at the very left border of the unique region, i.e., very close to the end of IRL. These results support the view that the inverted repeats of Tn5 stem from two identical copies of an originally independently moving DNA element. In the transposon, one of these, IRL, seems to have evolved toward a close physical and functional linkage with the antibiotic-resistance gene.

Studies on transposable elements in yeast. I. ROAM mutations causing increased expression of yeast genes: their activation by signals directed toward conjugation functions and their formation by insertion of Ty1 repetitive elements. II. deletions, duplications, and transpositions of the COR segment that encompasses the structural gene of yeast iso-1-cytochrome c.

Abstract: Mechanisms available to eukaryotic organisms for the coordinate regulation of gene expression are being examined by genetic and biochemical characterization of an unusual mutation, CYC7-H2, which causes over-production of iso-2-cytochrome c in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The CYC7-H2 mutation causes overproduction in haploid strains but only a 1- to 40-fold overproduction in MATa/MAT..cap alpha.. diploid strains. This regulation of overproduction has been characterized as a response to signals controlling conjugation in yeast. Furthermore, the abnormal controlling region has been identified as an insertion of a transposable and reiterated Ty1 element adjacent to the structural gene. Therefore, we suggest that Ty1 elements or portions of Ty1 elements occur adjacent to some of the genes required for conjugation and that they normally function to control expression of this process. The suggested role of reiterated sequences may represent a general mechanism of coordinate regulation in eukaryotes. The CYC7-H2 mutation is closely related to other regulatory mutations occurring at the cargA, cargB and DUR1,2 loci. Similar to the CYC7-H2 mutation, the mutations designated cargA/sup +/O/sup h/, cargB/sup +/O/sup h/, and durO/sup h/ cause constitutive production of their respective gene products at much lower levels of MATa/MAT..cap alpha.. diploid strains than in the corresponding haploidmore » strains. A consistent relationship between conjugation competence and the level of overproduction in all four mutants has been established. Observations characterizing the regulation of overproduction in the CYC7-H2 mutant are presented with the additional and parallel observations for the O/sup h/ mutants. Together these results provide a demonstration of the specificity and equivalence of regulatory control exhibited by ROAM mutants.« less

Strand exchange in lambda integrative recombination: genetics, biochemistry, and models.

Abstract: We have asked, "What is the mechanism of strand exchange during site-specific recombination of phage lambda?" Crosses carried out in vivo have shown that the recombination joint can be extended rather than flush and that the four-strand breaks and rejoinings needed to from a recombinant can occur asynchronously. Crosses carried out in vitro have shown that all the nucleotides at the site of crossover are conserved during recombination, as are most or all of the superhelical turns present in the substrate molecules. We have presented new data showing that topoisomerase activity of Int protein relaxes DNA by making transient single-strand, rather than double-strand, breaks in the phosphodiester back-bone. These findings are incorporated into a model for strand exchange that has as its central intermediate a four-strand structure.