Yeast genes fused to beta-galactosidase in Escherichia coli can be expressed normally in yeast.

A plasmid was constructed that allows the selection in vivo of gene fusions between the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene and the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) URA3 gene. A large yeast DNA fragment containing the URA3 gene was placed upstream of an amino-terminally deleted version of the lacZ gene. The plasmid vehicle contains sequences that allow selection and maintenance of the plasmid in both yeast and E. coli. Selection for Lac+ in E. coli yielded numerous deletions that fused the lacZ gene to the URA3 gene and flanking yeast sequences, to the bacterial tetracycline-resistance gene from the parent plasmid pBR322, and to the yeast 2-micrometer plasmid DNA. Some of these fusion plasmids produced beta-galactosidase activity when introduced into yeast. One of the fusions to the URA3 gene itself has been shown to place the expression of beta-galactosidase activity under uracil regulation in yeasts.     

Open reading frame cloning: identification, cloning, and expression of open reading frame DNA.

A plasmid was constructed that facilitates the cloning and expression of open reading frame DNA. A DNA fragment containing a bacterial promoter and the amino terminus of the cI gene of bacteriophage lambda was fused to an amino-terminally deleted version of the lacZ gene. An appropriate cloning site was inserted between these two fragments such that a frameshift mutation was introduced upstream of the lacZ-encoding DNA. This cloning vehicle produces a relatively low level of beta-galactosidase activity when introduced into Escherichia coli. The insertion of foreign DNA at the cloning site can reverse the frameshift mutation and generate plasmids that produce a relatively high level of beta-galactosidase activity. A large fraction of these plasmids produce a fusion protein that has a portion of the lambda cI protein at the amino terminus, the foreign protein segment in the middle, and the lacZ polypeptide at the carboxyl terminus. The production of a high level of beta-galactosidase and a large fusion polypeptide guarantees the cloning of a DNA fragment with at least one open reading frame that traverses the entirety of the fragment. Hence, the method can identify, clone, and express (as part of a larger fusion polypeptide) open reading frame DNA from among a large collection of DNA fragments.     

Primary structure of the essential replicon of the plasmid pSC101.

The replicon of the low copy number plasmid pSC101 has an obligatory requirement for the dnaA initiator protein of Escherichia coli as well as a plasmid-encoded initiator protein. We have identified the cistron of the plasmid-encoded initiator by DNA sequence analysis. Fusion of the initiator cistron with the lacZ gene of E. coli yielded a fusion protein of approximately equal to 150 kilodaltons, thus confirming that the open reading frame detected by DNA sequence analysis actually encoded a 37.5-kilodalton protein. Deletion of 26 amino acid residues from the COOH terminus of the plasmid initiator abolished autonomous replication from pSC101 origin. By in vitro deletion analysis we have shown that, although sequences downstream from the initiator cistron are dispensable, a maximum of 400 base pairs immediately upstream from the NH2-terminal region of the initiator is necessary for plasmid replication. These upstream sequences contain an A + T-rich region and three tandem repeats of a 21-base pair sequence; these features are characteristics of other replication origins.     

Mutants of Agrobacterium tumefaciens with elevated vir gene expression.

Expression of Agrobacterium tumefaciens virulence (vir) genes requires virA, virG, and a plant-derived inducing compound such as acetosyringone. To identify the critical functional domains of virA and virG, a mutational approach was used. Agrobacterium A136 harboring plasmid pGP159, which contains virA, virG, and a reporter virB:lacZ gene fusion, was mutagenized with UV light or nitrosoguanidine. Survivors that formed blue colonies on a plate containing 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl beta-D-galactoside were isolated and analyzed. Quantification of beta-galactosidase activity in liquid assays identified nine mutant strains. By plasmid reconstruction and other procedures, all mutations mapped to the virA locus. These mutations caused an 11- to 560-fold increase in the vegetative level of virB:lacZ reporter gene expression. DNA sequence analysis showed that the mutations are located in four regions of VirA: transmembrane domain one, the active site, a glycine-rich region with homology to ATP-binding sites, and a region at the C terminus that has homology to the N terminus of VirG.     

A genetic approach to analysis of transposons.

Integration of the tetracycline resistance transposon Tn10 into lacI of a lacI-lacZ gene fusion permits the isolation of deletions that excise DNA from one end of Tn10 and fuse Tn10 genes with lacZ in such a manner that chimeric proteins with beta-galactosidase activity are produced. The synthesis of the chimeric proteins is under the same control as the transposon genes. Thus, regulation of expression of Tn10 genes can be investigated by measuring beta-galactosidase activity. Analysis of Tn10-lacZ fusions revealed different deletion endpoints within Tn10; lacZ has been fused to at least three different Tn10 genes or operons. Two of these genes are under the control of a tetracycline repressor.     

Intracellular targeting and import of an F1-ATPase beta-subunit-beta-galactosidase hybrid protein into yeast mitochondria.

The gene coding for the yeast mitochondrial F1-ATPase beta subunit (ATP2) has been fused to the Escherichia coli lacZ gene. The chimeric ATP2-lacZ gene codes for a hybrid protein consisting of some 350 amino acids of the F1-ATPase beta subunit at its amino terminus and a large enzymatically active portion of the lacZ gene product, beta-galactosidase (beta-D-galactoside galactohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.23), at its carboxyl terminus. The beta-subunit-beta-galactosidase hybrid protein is expressed in both E. coli and yeast. In yeast, this hybrid molecule is targeted to the mitochondrion and is protected in isolated mitochondria from added protease under conditions in which an outer membrane enzymatic marker is digested. Yeast cells carrying the ATP2-lacZ gene fusion on plasmid p beta Z1 are unable to grow on a nonfermentable carbon source. Upon loss of the p beta Z1 plasmid, growth of the cured host strain on the nonfermentable substrate is restored. In the presence of the beta-subunit-beta-galactosidase hybrid protein, the energy-transducing capacity of the mitochondrial membrane as measured by the 32Pi-ATP exchange reaction is only 9% of that measured in the absence of the gene fusion product. The results indicate that it is the presence of the beta-subunit-beta-galactosidase hybrid protein within mitochondria that interferes with function(s) essential for respiratory growth. These observations open up the prospect of genetic characterization of the signals and cellular machinery responsible for mitochondrial protein delivery.     

The cyc1-11 mutation in yeast reverts by recombination with a nonallelic gene: composite genes determining the iso-cytochromes c.

DNA sequence analysis of a cloned fragment directly established that the cyc1-11 mutation of iso-1-cytochrome c in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a two-base-pair substitution that changes the CCA proline codon at amino acid position 76 to a UAA nonsense codon. Analysis of 11 revertant proteins and one cloned revertant gene showed that reversion of the cyc1-11 mutation can occur in three ways: a single base-pair substitution, which produces a serine replacement at position 76; recombination with the nonallelic CYC7 gene of iso-2-cytochrome c, which causes replacement of a segment in the cyc1-11 gene by the corresponding segment of the CYC7 gene; and either a two-base-pair substitution or recombination with the CYC7 gene, which causes the formation of the normal iso-1-cytochrome c sequence. These results demonstrate the occurrence of low frequencies of recombination between nonallelic genes having extensive but not complete homology. The formation of composite genes that share sequences from nonallelic genes may be an evolutionary mechanism for producing protein diversities and for maintaining identical sequences at different loci.     

Nucleotide sequence and expression of the selenocysteine-containing polypeptide of formate dehydrogenase (formate-hydrogen-lyase-linked) from Escherichia coli.

The gene (fdhF) coding for the selenopolypeptide of the benzylviologen-linked formate dehydrogenase of Escherichia coli was cloned and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The fdhF gene contains, within an open reading frame coding for a protein of 715 amino acids (calculated molecular weight, 79,087), an opal (UGA) nonsense codon in amino acid position 140. Existence of this nonsense codon was confirmed by physical recloning and resequencing. Internal and terminal deletion clones and lacZ fusions of different N-terminal parts of fdhF were constructed and analyzed for selenium incorporation. Selenylated truncated polypeptide chains or beta-galactosidase fusion proteins were synthesized when the deletion clones or gene fusions, respectively, contained the fdhF gene fragment coding for the selenopolypeptide sequence from amino acid residue 129 to amino acid residue 268. Translation of the lacZ part of the fusions required the presence of selenium in the medium when the N-terminal fdhF part contained the UGA codon and was independent of the presence of selenium when a more upstream part of fdhF was fused to lacZ. The results are consistent with a co-translational selenocysteine incorporation mechanism.