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Suppression of erythromycin resistance in ery-M1 mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardi

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Summary

After mutagenesis of the erythromycin-resistant Chlamydomonas reinhardi strain ery-M1b, four mutants were isolated, each more sensitive to erythromycin than ery-M1b. All four mutants carry the original ery-M1b mutation which confers resistance and a separate mutation (es) which partially suppresses resistance. The mutants are designated es5ery-M1b, es101ery-M1b, es105ery-M1b, and es115ery-M1b. The suppressor mutations represent at least three different Mendelian loci. The suppressor es101 is located on the same linkage group as ery-M1, while the other suppressors are not linked to ery-M1.

Although some of these suppressors can also mask the erythromycin resistance of ery-M2 strains, none had any effect on the non-Mendelian mutant ery-Ula. In addition, each suppressor affected the cross-resistance of ery-M1 mutants to other antibiotics. At least two of the changes in cross-resistance are due solely to the suppressor.

Chloroplast ribosomes from cells carrying es5ery-M1b, es101ery-M1b, and es115ery-M1b have a greater affinity for 14C-erythromycin in vitro than those from ery-M1b. The degree of affinity depends upon the concentration of KCl.

Each of these Mendelian suppressors probably affects a chloroplast ribosome function. Hence, a number of nuclear genes must play roles in the biogenesis of the chloroplast ribosome in Chlamydomonas reinhardi.

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  1. Jeffrey N. Davidson

    Present address: Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research, 4200 East Ninth Avenue, Bos 129, 80262, Denver, Colorado, USA

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  1. Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, 02138, Cambridge, Mass., USA

    Jeffrey N. Davidson & Lawrence Bogorad

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  1. Jeffrey N. Davidson
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  2. Lawrence Bogorad
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Communicated by H.G. Wittmann

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Davidson, J.N., Bogorad, L. Suppression of erythromycin resistance in ery-M1 mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardi . Molec. Gen. Genet. 157, 39–46 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00268685

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00268685

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