In vitro regulation of DNA-dependent synthesis of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein L12.

The DNA of the transducing phage lambdarifd18 contains, among others, the genes for the ribosomal proteins L11, L1, L10, and L12 and the beta and beta' subunits of RNA polymerase (nucleosidetriphosphate:RNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.6). In a coupled in vitro protein-synthesis system, lambdarifd18 DNA directs the synthesis of about four to five molecules of L12 per molecule of L10. This is consistent with the finding that there are four copies of L12 per ribosome. The ratio of L12/L10 was also examined from an EcoRI fragment of lambdarifd18 that contains the L10 gene and about 50% of the L12 gene. A significantly lower ratio of truncated L12/L10 was observed compared to the intact phage. The binding of RNA polymerase to various lambdarifd18 DNA restriction fragments was used to locate possible promoter sites. These binding experiments suggest that the beta and beta' subunits of RNA polymerase are cotranscribed with at least ribosomal protein L12 and, also, that there may be an additional promoter site for the L12 gene within the structural gene for L10.     

Autogenous control of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein L10 synthesis in vitro.

The DNA-dependent in vitro synthesis of Escherichia coli ribosomal protein L10 was inhibited when L10 was added to the protein-synthesizing incubations. Addition of L10 had little or no effect on the synthesis of ribosomal protein L12, elongation factor Tu (tufB), or the beta and beta' subunits of RNA polymerase. In addition, ribosomal protein L12 did not inhibit its own synthesis or the synthesis of L10. Experiments using a mRNA-directed system showed that the inhibition of the synthesis of L10 by itself is at the level of translation of protein synthesis. The mechanism of inhibition does not appear to be due to increased degradation of L10 mRNA.     

Regulation of Subunit Synthesis of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase

lambdacI857s7drif(d)18 phage is a defective, specialized transducing phage carrying the RNA polymerase mutation rif(d), a dominant rifampicin-resistant allele. This phage DNA directs in vitro synthesis of the beta subunit of RNA polymerase in a DNA-dependent protein-synthesizing system. Prophage induction in cells that are lysogenic for this phage increases the rate of beta-subunit synthesis in vivo by at most 2-fold. No increase in subunit synthesis above the haploid level is observed in cells diploid for the beta gene.     

Temperature-sensitive RNA polymerase mutants with altered subunit synthesis and degradation.

A temperature-sensitive mutant having a lethal mutation in the gene for the beta subunit of RNA polymerase (nucleosidetriphosphate:RNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.6) exhibits an apparent 2- to 3-fold decrease in the rates of both beta and beta' subunit synthesis at the non-permissive temperature, relative to total protein. In contrast, a temperature-sensitive mutant with a lethal mutation in the gene encoding beta' has a 5- to 6-fold increase in the rates of beta and beta' synthesis at 42 degrees. These beta and beta' mutants also exhibit rapid degradation of both subunits at the high temperature.     

Elongation factor Tu resistant to kirromycin in an Esherichia coli mutant altered in both tuf genes

A mutant of Escherichia coli is described that displays kirromycin resistance in a cell-free system by virtue of an altered elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu). In poly(U)-directed poly(Phe) synthesis the kirromycin resistance of the crystallized enzyme ranged between a factor of 80 and 700, depending on temperature. Similarly, kirromycin-induced EF-Tu GTPase activity uncoupled from ribosomes and aminoacyl-tRNA required correspondingly higher concentrations of the antibiotic. Resistance of EF-Tu to kirromycin is a consequence of a modified enzyme structure as indicated by its altered fingerprint pattern.P1 transduction experiments showed that the kirromycin-resistant EF-Tu is coded by an altered tufB gene (tufB1). The known existence of two genes coding for EF-Tu would interfere with the recognition of a mutant altered in only one of those genes, if the mutation were recessive. Because kirromycin blocks EF-Tu release from the ribosome, kirromycin sensitivity is dominant, as shown by the failure of a mixed EF-Tu population to express resistance in vitro. Therefore, phenotypic expression of kirromycin resistance in vivo appears to be only possible if the EF-Tu mutant lacks an active tufA gene, a property likely to be inherited from the parental D22 strain. The observations that introduction of a tufA(+) region makes the resistant strain sensitive to the antibiotic and that transduction of tufB1 into a recipient other than E. coli D22 yields kirromycin-sensitive progeny support these conclusions.     

Specialized transducing phage lambda carrying the genes for coupling factor of oxidative phosphorylation of Escherichia coli: increased synthesis of coupling factor on induction of prophage lambda asn.

Studies were made of the synthesis of the coupling factor complex (F1--F0) of oxidative phosphorylation after prophage induction of a set of Escherichia coli strains lysogenic for defective transducing phage lambda asn, lambda uncA, or lambda bglC. The transducing phages had been isolated from a strain of E. coli carrying prophage lambda cI857 S7 within the bglB gene located near the unc gene cluster [Miki, T., Hiraga, S., Nagata, T. & Yura, T. (1978) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75, 5099--5103]. When lysogenic cells carrying lambda asn and lambda cI857 S7 were induced at high temperature, synthesis of the F1-ATPase portion of the complex increased to severalfold that of the noninduced cells. In contrast, no increase was observed upon thermoinduction of cells carrying lambda uncA or lambda bglC. The number of membrane sites that could bind purified F1-ATPase also increased significantly upon induction by lambda asn but not by lambda uncA or lambda bglC. In addition, F1-depleted membranes prepared from lambda asn-induced bacteria required more dicyclohexylcarbodiimide to seal the proton pathway than did those from noninduced bacteria. These results strongly suggest that lambda asn carries a set of bacterial genes coding for all the F1 polypeptides (the alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and probably the epsilon subunits) and at least some of the genes involved in formation of F0 polypeptides. Although lambda uncA carries the structural gene (uncA) for the alpha subunit of F1-ATPase, it apparently does not carry the whole set of F1--F0 genes.     

Assembly of functional Escherichia coli RNA polymerase containing beta subunit fragments.

The Escherichia coli rpoB gene, which codes for the 1342-residue beta subunit of RNA polymerase (RNAP), contains two dispensable regions centered around codons 300 and 1000. To test whether these regions demarcate domains of the RNAP beta subunit, fragments encoded by segments of rpoB flanking the dispensable regions were individually overexpressed and purified. We show that these beta-subunit polypeptide fragments, when added with purified recombinant beta', sigma, and alpha subunits of RNAP, reconstitute a functional enzyme in vitro. These results demonstrate that the beta subunit is composed of at least three distinct domains and open another avenue for in vitro studies of RNAP assembly and structure.