Search results for "MUTATION"
showing 10 items of 2830 documents
Mutagenicity test system based on a reporter gene assay for short-term detection of mutagens (MutaGen assay).
2003
Abstract The construction of a bacterial mutation assay system detecting reversions of base substitutions and frameshifts in tetracycline (tet) and ampicillin resistance genes located on low copy plasmids is described. Frameshift mutations were introduced into repetitive GC-sequences and G-repeats known to be mutagenic hot-spots. Base pair substitutions were inserted in or around the active site of the ampicillinase gene thus generating reversibility of the ampicilline sensitivity. The plasmids carry genes to enable sensitive, fast and specific detection of mutagens in bacteria. MucAB was cloned into the test plasmid to enhance error-prone DNA-repair. The conventional reversion principle ha…
dltA overexpression: A strain-independent keystone of daptomycin resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
2013
The mechanisms leading to reduced susceptibility to daptomycin (DAP) are multifactorial and have not been fully elucidated. We analysed, by sequencing and expression studies, the role of the major molecular targets (cell-envelope charge genes, dltA, mprF, cls2; cell-wall turnover and autolysis genes, sceD, atl) involved in the emergence of DAP resistance in three series of isogenic clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in which DAP resistance emerged after a heterogeneous glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (hGISA) step under teicoplanin and DAP therapy. All of the isolates had different genotypes and were delta-haemolysin negative, reflecting a strain proclivity to ac…
Conjugative plasmid pIP501 undergoes specific deletions after transfer from Lactococcus lactis to Oenococcus oeni
2003
Conjugal transfer of plasmids pIP501 and its derivative pVA797 from Lactococcus lactis to Oenococcus oeni was assayed by filter mating. Plasmid pIP501 was transferred to a number of O. oeni strains whereas a single transconjugant of O. oeni M42 was recovered when pVA797 was used. Physical analysis of the transconjugant plasmids revealed that pIP501 and pVA797 underwent extensive deletions in O. oeni that affected the tra region (conjugal transfer) and SegB region (stability). All derivatives showed segregational instability in O. oeni, but were stably maintained in L. lactis. These differences correlated with the different plasmid copy numbers and the extent of deletions within the SegB reg…
Sequence diversity in the pe_pgrs genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is independent of human T cell recognition.
2014
ABSTRACT The Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome includes the large family of pe_pgrs genes, whose functions are unknown. Because of precedents in other pathogens in which gene families showing high sequence variation are involved in antigenic variation, a similar role has been proposed for the pe_pgrs genes. However, the impact of immune selection on pe_pgrs genes has not been examined. Here, we sequenced 27 pe_pgrs genes in 94 clinical strains from five phylogenetic lineages of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC). We found that pe_pgrs genes were overall more diverse than the remainder of the MTBC genome, but individual members of the family varied widely in their nucleotide diversity and in…
Engineering of a bacterial tyrosinase for improved catalytic efficiency towards D-tyrosine using random and site directed mutagenesis approaches
2013
The tyrosinase gene from Ralstonia solanacearum (GenBank NP518458) was subjected to random mutagenesis resulting in tyrosinase variants (RVC10 and RV145) with up to 3.2-fold improvement in kcat, 5.2-fold lower Km and 16-fold improvement in catalytic efficiency for D-tyrosine. Based on RVC10 and RV145 mutated sequences, single mutation variants were generated with all variants showing increased kcat for D-tyrosine compared to the wild type (WT). All single mutation variants based on RV145 had a higher kcat and Km value compared to the RV145 and thus the combination of four mutations in RV145 was antagonistic for turnover, but synergistic for affinity of the enzyme for D-tyrosine. Single muta…
Characterisation of rpsL, rrs and embB mutations associated with streptomycin and ethambutol resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
2003
In order to characterise molecular mechanisms of first-line drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to evaluate the use of molecular markers of resistance (gene point mutations), we analysed 66 multi-drug-resistant (MDR) isolates from Latvian tuberculosis patients. They were all resistant to rifampin (RIF), isoniazid (INH) and streptomycin (SM), and 33 were resistant to ethambutol (EMB). Enzymatic digestion by MboII and nucleotide sequencing of the rpsL gene fragment detected a single nucleotide substitution K43R in 40 (61%) of the 66 SM-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates. Of the other 26 SM-resistant isolates, 16 (24%) had mutations at positions 513A--C and 516C--T of the rrs gen…
Photobiology in space: An experiment on Spacelab I
1984
The joint European/US Spacelab Mission I, scheduled for October 1983 for a 9 day lasting Earth-orbiting flight, provides a laboratory system for various disciplines of science, including exobiology. On the pallet, in the experiment ES 029 "Microorganisms and Biomolecules in Space Hard Environment" 316 dry samples of Bacillus subtilis spores will be exposed to space vacuum and/or selected wavelenghs of solar UV radiation. After recovery action spectra of inactivation, mutation induction, reparability and photochemical damage in DNA and protein will be determined. The results will contribute to the understanding of the mechanism of the increased UV sensitivity of bacterial spores in vacuo and…
Concomitant loss of conformation and superantigenic activity of staphylococcal enterotoxin B deletion mutant proteins.
1993
The T-cell-stimulating activity of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is an important factor in the pathogenesis of certain staphylococcal diseases. To investigate the immunologically active domains of the SEB molecule, we have produced truncated fragments of recombinant SEB by C-terminal and N-terminal deletions. The fragments were expressed as fusion proteins with protein A, including a cleavage site to remove the protein A part. Mutant proteins were tested for the ability to stimulate human resting T cells and SEB-reactive T-cell clones. Deletion of only 9 amino acids from the C terminus leads to complete loss of T-cell-stimulating activity. Removing further amino acids from the SEB mole…
Pseudomonas corrugata crpCDE is part of the cyclic lipopeptide corpeptin biosynthetic gene cluster and is involved in bacterial virulence in tomato a…
2014
Summary: Pseudomonas corrugataCFBP 5454 produces two kinds of cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs), cormycin A and corpeptins, both of which possess surfactant, antimicrobial and phytotoxic activities. In this study, we identified genes coding for a putative non-ribosomal peptide synthetase and an ABC-type transport system involved in corpeptin production. These genes belong to the same transcriptional unit, designated crpCDE. The genetic organization of this locus is highly similar to other PseudomonasCLP biosynthetic clusters. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) analysis revealed that transporter and synthetase genomic knock-out mutants were u…
A frame shift mutation in a hot spot region of the nuclear autoantigen La (SS-B).
1996
A hot spot region was identified in the exon 7 of the nuclear autoantigen La (SS-B). Two La cDNAs were identified which contained a frame shift mutation in the hot spot region. One La cDNA was isolated from a cDNA library made from peripheral blood lymphocytes of an autoimmune patient with primary Sjogren's Syndrome, the other La cDNA was isolated from a human liver cDNA library. The patient's La cDNA had a deletion and the liver La cDNA had an insert of an (A)-residue at the same position. Inserts of 4, 16 and 24 more or less homogeneous (A)-residues were found at the same site in the three La retropseudogenes. The hot spot region located in one of the major autoepitope regions of the La a…