Summary
A restriction-deficient mutant, Escherichia coli ELA103, was isolated from E. coli AB2463 and used to clone a thr-1 complementing gene from the extremely thermophilic archaebacterium Methanococcus jannaschii. A 7.3 kilobase EcoRI fragment of chromosomal DNA was cloned into pUC8 and the recombinant plasmid designated pELA3471. A Southern blot confirmed M. jannaschii as the source of the inserted fragment, and continued complementation in the presence of a repressor of the the pUC8 lac promoter suggested that the cloned fragment of methanogen DNA included its own transcription signals. The archaebacterium M. jannaschii, which was originally isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent, is the most thermophilic species from which a cloned gene product has been actively expressed in a eubacterium to date.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balch WE, Wolfe RS (1976) New approach to the cultivation of methanogenic bacteria: 2-mercaptoethane-sulfonic acid (HS-CoM)- dependent growth of Methanobacterium ruminatum in a pressurized atmosphere. Appl Environ Microbiol 32:781–791
Balch WE, Fox GE, Magrum LJ, Woese CR, Wolfe RS (1979) Methanogens: reevaluation of a unique biological group. Microbiol Rev 43:260–296
Bergquist PL, Alderberg EA (1972) Abnormal excision and transfer of chromosomal segments by a strain of Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol 111:119–128
Bertani G (1986) Genetic Society of America Abstracts, abstr 13.1
Bhatnager L, Henriquet M, Zeikus JG, Aubert J-P (1984) Utilization of mercapto-2-ethanol as medium reductant for determination of the metabolic response of methanogens towards inorganic sulfur compounds. FEMS Microbiol Lett 22:155–158
Brock TD (1985) Life at High Temperatures. Science 230:132–138
Cue D, Beckler GS, Reeve JN, Koninsky J (1985) Structure and sequence divergence of two archaebacterial genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82:4207–4211
Daniels L, Belay N, Rajagopal BS (1986) Assimilatory reduction of sulfate and sulfite by methanogenic bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 51:703–709
Gillen JR, Willis DK, Clark AJ (1981) Genetic analysis of the RecE pathway of genetic recombination in Escherichia coli K-12. J Bacteriol 145:521–532
Hass ES, Hook LA, Reeve JM (1986) Antibiotic resistance caused by permeability changes of the archaebacterium Methanococcus vannielii. FEMS Microbiol Lett 33:185–188
Hook L, Corder RE, Hamilton PT, Frea JI, Reeve JN (1984) Development of a plating system for genetic exchange studies in methanogens using a modified ultra-low oxygen chamber, p. 275–289. In W. R. Strohl and O. H. Touvinen (ed.), Microbial Chemoautotrophy, Ohio State University Press, Columbus, OH
Hummel H, Bock A (1985) Mutations in Methanobacterium formicicum conferring resistance to anti-80S ribosome-targeted antibiotics. Mol Gen Genet 198:529–533
Jones WJ, Leigh JA, Mayer F, Woese CR, Wolfe RS (1983) Methanococcus jannaschii sp. nov., an extremely thermophillic methanogen from a submarine hydrothermal vent. Arch Microbiol 136:254–261
Konheiser U, Pasti G, Bollschweiler C, Klein A (1984) Physical mapping of genes coding for two subunits of methyl CoM reductase component of Methanococcus voltae. Mol Gen Genet 198:146–152
Mandel M, Higa A (1970) Calcium dependent bacteriophage DNA infection. J Mol Biol 53:154–168
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning, a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Meile L, Reeve JN (1985) Potential shuttle vector based on the methanogen plasmid pME2001. Biotechnol 3:69–72
Miller JF, Almond EL, Shah NN, Ludlow JM, Zollweg JA, Streett WB, Zinder SH, Clark DS (1988) High pressure-temperature bioreactor for studying pressure-temperature relationships in bacterial growth and productivity. Biotechnol Bioeng 31:407–413
Reeve JN, Hamilton PT, Beckler GS, Morris CJ, Clarke CH (1986) Structure of methanogen genes. System Appl Microbiol 7:5–12
Rosner JC (1972) Formation, induction and curing of bacteriophage P1 lysogens. Virology 48:679–689
Santoro N, Konisky J (1987) Characterization of bromoethanesulfonate-resistant mutants of Methanococcus voltae: evidence of a coenzyme M transport system. J Bacteriol 169:660–665
Smith EE, Summers MD (1980) The bidirectional transfer of DNA and RNA to nitrocellulose or diazobenzyloxymethyl-paper. Anal Biochem 109:123–129
Sonnleitner B, Fiechter A (1983) Advantages of using thermophiles in biotechnological processes: expectations and reality. Trends in Biotechnology 1:74–80
Southern EM (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol 98:503–517
Vieira J, Messing J (1982) The pUC plasmids, an M13mp7-derived system for insertion mutagenesis and sequencing with synthetic universal primers. Gene 19:259–268
Weil CF, Beckler GS, Reeve JN (1987) Structure and organization of the hisA gene from the thermophilic archaebacterium Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus. J Bacteriol 169:4857–4860
Wiegel J, Ljungdahl LG (1985) The importance of thermophilic bacteria in biotechnology. CRC Critical Reviews in Biotechnology 3:39–108
Wood AG, Redborg AH, Cue DR, Whitman WB, Konisky J (1983) Complementation of argG and hisA mutations of Escherichia coli by DNA cloned from the archaebacterium Methanococcus voltae. J Bacteriol 156:19–29
Zeikus JG (1977) The biology of methanogenic bacteria. Bacteriol Rev 41:514–541
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Almond, E.L., Clark, A.J. & Clark, D.S. Complementation of a thr-1 mutation of Escherichia coli by DNA from the extremely thermophilic archaebacterium Methanococcus jannaschii . Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 30, 148–152 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264003
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264003