Abstract
A new chromosomal mutation (cpeA), that causes increased expression of plasmid-borne genes in Escherichia coli, was identified and mapped to the sbcB locus. The effect of the mutation on plasmid transcription was non-specific with respect to the various promoters that were studied, but was more pronounced for an lncW low-copy-number plasmid than for ColEl- or pl5A-based, high-copy-number plasmids. The mutant phenotype was observed even in recB + C + D + strains, but not in recA mutants. The increased-expression phenotype was also observed in sbcB15 but not in xonA1 (another sbcB allele) mutants, suggesting that the expression of this phenotype is mediated by genes of the so-called RecF pathway family. Consistent with this interpretation was the observation that the cpeA mutant phenotype was less pronounced in recF, recJ and recO mutants. The increased-expression phenotype was also correlated with increased recovery of plasmid DNA from the cpeA/sbcB mutant strains, but there was no evidence for the occurrence of linear plasmid multimers in these strains.
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Jayashree, P., Gowrishankar, J. A new phenotype for shcB mutations in Escherichia coli: RecA-dependent increase in plasmid-borne gene expression. Molec. Gen. Genet. 246, 648–656 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00298972
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00298972