Initiation of DNA replication in Escherichia coli

✍ Scribed by Saitoh, Tsunao ;Hiraga, Sota

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1975
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 792 KB
• Volume: 137
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-8925
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00333020

✦ Synopsis

Temperature-sensitive mutants defective in the initiation of DNA replication are exposed to a non-permissive temperature to complete already initiated replication, and are transferred back to a permissive temperature. DNA synthesis can resume in the presence of rifampicin or rifampicin plus chloramphenicol in strain PC2 (dnaC2), but not in strain N167 (dna-167). In the presence of chloramphenicol alone, however, DNA synthesis can resume in both strains (Hirage and Saito, 1973, 1974). The double mutants carrying the dna-167 and dnaC2 mutations show the rifampicin-sensitive resumption of DNA replication as the dna-167 mutant. The rifampicin-sensitive character (designated as Rrr-) is closely linked with the temperature sensitivity of the dna-167 mutant in P1 transduction. The gene order is dna-167-tna-phoS-uncA-ilv. The Rrr- character does not correlate with the inactivation of the altered product of the mutated dna-167 gene at various temperatures in the double mutant carrying dna-167 and dnaC2. Although dnaC2 strains show the Rrr+ phenotype, the dnaC2 strains received the ilv-dnaA region of the Ts+ revertants obtained from a dna-167 strain show the Rrr- phenotype. These results suggest that the dna-167 mutant has two mutations which are closely linked to each other, controlling the Rrr- phenotype and the temperature sensitivity, respectively.