Mini-F Plasmid-Induced SOS Signal in Escherichia coli is RecBC Dependent

Dispensable replicons such as F plasmid [95 kilobases (kb)] or its mini-derivatives such as mini-F (9.3 kb) or λ mini-F efficiently induced cellular SOS genes such as sfiA (sulA) when they were damaged by UV irradiation and then introduced into a recipient bacterium. To generate an SOS signal, UV li...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1985-09, Vol.82 (17), p.5973-5977
Main Authors: Bailone, Adriana, Sommer, Suzanne, Devoret, Raymond
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Chromosomes
Chromosomes, Bacterial - radiation effects
DNA
DNA Repair
DNA Replication - radiation effects
DNA, Bacterial - radiation effects
Enzymes
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli Proteins
Exodeoxyribonuclease V
Exodeoxyribonucleases - genetics
F Factor
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes, Bacterial
Genetic SOS response
Genetics
Inductive reasoning
Infections
Lesions
Macromolecular Substances
Microbiology
Plasmids
Ultraviolet Rays
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Summary:Dispensable replicons such as F plasmid [95 kilobases (kb)] or its mini-derivatives such as mini-F (9.3 kb) or λ mini-F efficiently induced cellular SOS genes such as sfiA (sulA) when they were damaged by UV irradiation and then introduced into a recipient bacterium. To generate an SOS signal, UV light-damaged mini-F or mini-F conditional mutants deficient in replication required that the bacterial RecBC enzyme retained some activity different from the nuclease activity that was dispensable. In contrast, UV light-damaged F plasmid produced an SOS signal independently of the activity of the RecBC enzyme and of the expression of the mini-F, -H, and -G proteins. Our findings are consistent with a picture in which the SOS signal is constituted by stretches of single-stranded DNA on a replicon. Moreover, our present data combined with other data previously published lead to the hypothesis that the SOS signal induced by mini-F plasmid is located in trans on the host chromosome, whereas the one generated by UV light-damaged F plasmid is in cis on the transferred DNA.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.82.17.5973