Summary
The transcription of the genome of the UV-inducible Sulfolobus virus-like particle SSV1 was studied. Eight different transcripts could be distinguished by Northern analysis that were present in uninduced cells and that coordinately increased in amount after UV induction of SSV1. Using single-stranded DNA probes from different parts of the genome, the approximate map positions of these RNAs and the directions of transcription were determined. In two cases, terminator read-through resulted in the formation of more than one RNA species from a single 5′ end and therefore the eight different RNAs corresponded to only five different transcriptional starts. Two RNAs sharing a common 5′ end encode SSV1 structural proteins. The 5′ end of these transcripts was determined by S1 nuclease analysis. About 20 nucleotides upstream of the transcriptional start of these RNAs, there is an AT-rich region resembling putative promoter sequences which have been found at a similar distance 5′ to the genes encoding stable RNAs in Thermoproteus. In addition to the eight constitutive transcripts, a UV-inducible RNA of 0.3 kb was mapped on the SSV1 genome. In contrast to all other RNAs, it was not detectable in uninduced cells and it is expressed shortly before the amplification and packaging of the SSV1 genome commences.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bolivar F (1978) Construction and characterization of new cloning vehicles. III. Derivatives of plasmid pBR322 carrying unique EcoRI sites for selection of EcoRI generated recombinant DNA molecules. Gene 4:121–136
Brock TD, Brock KM, Belly RT, Weiss RL (1972) Sulfolobus: a new genus of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria living at low pH and high temperature. Arch Microbiol 84:54–68
Fox GE, Stackebrandt E, Hespell RB, Gibson J, Maniloff J, Dyer TA, Wolfe RS, Balch WE, Tanner RS, Magrum LJ, Zablen LB, Blakemore R, Gupta R, Bonen L, Lewis BJ, Stahl DA, Luehrsen KR, Chen KN, Woese CR (1980) The phylogeny of prokaryotes. Science 209:457–463
Hu N, Messing J (1982) The making of strand-specific M13 probes. Gene 17:271–277
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York
Martin A, Yeats S, Janekovic D, Reiter WD, Aicher W, Zillig W (1984) SAV1, a temperate u.v.-inducible DNA virus-like particle from the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius isolate B12. EMBO J 3:2165–2168
Nadal M, Mirambeau G, Forterre P, Reiter WD, Duguet M (1986) Positively supercoiled DNA in a virus-like particle of an archaebacterium. Nature 321:256–258
Nasmyth K (1983) Molecular analysis of a cell lineage. Nature 302:670–676
Norrander J, Kempe T, Messing J (1983) Construction of improved M13 vectors using oligodeoxynucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Gene 26:101–106
Reiter WD, Palm P, Henschen A, Lottspeich F, Zillig W, Grampp B (1987) Identification and characterization of the genes encoding three structural proteins of the Sulfolobus virus-like particle SSV1. Mol Gen Genet 206:144–153
Schnabel H, Zillig W, Pfäffle M, Schnabel R, Michel H, Delius H (1982) Halobacterium halobium phage ΦH. EMBO J 1:87–92
Wich G, Leinfelder W, Böck A (1987) Genes for stable RNA in the extreme thermophile Thermoproteus tenax: Introns and transcription signals. EMBO J, in press
Woese CR, Olsen GJ (1986) Archaebacterial phylogeny: Perspectives on the urkingdoms. System Appl Microbiol 7:161–177
Yeats S, McWilliam P, Zillig W (1982) A plasmid in the archaebacterium Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. EMBO J 1:1035–1038
Zillig W, Stetter KO, Wunderl S, Schulz W, Priess H, Scholz I (1980) The Sulfolobus-“Caldariella” group: Taxonomy on the basis of the structure of DNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Arch Microbiol 125:259–269
Zillig W, Gropp F, Henschen A, Neumann H, Palm P, Reiter WD, Rettenberger M, Schnabel H, Yeats S (1986) Archaebacterial virus host systems. System Appl Microbiol 7:58–66
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by W. Goebel
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reiter, WD., Palm, P., Yeats, S. et al. Gene expression in archaebacteria: Physical mapping of constitutive and UV-inducible transcripts from the Sulfolobus virus-like particle SSV1. Molec Gen Genet 209, 270–275 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329653
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329653