Abstract
Some plasmid DNAs, when maintained in wild-type Escherichia coli strains, form high levels of oligomeric species while others remain primarily monomers1–9. One explanation of this observation is that the plasmids that do not form circular oligomers lack a DNA sequence necessary for the formation or maintenance of circular oligomeric species. Here we describe the isolation of segments of DNA from the E. coli genome and other sources that through a recA+-dependent process: (1) stimulate the conversion of monomeric plasmids to different oligomeric forms, (2) stimulate the conversion of an oligomeric plasmid to a mixture of monomeric and different oligomeric forms, and (3) increase the frequency of recovery of figure-8 molecules. Both cis-acting and trans-acting elements were found. These elements seem to act by stimulating either the frequency of the recombination events that lead to the interconversion of different oligomeric plasmid DNA molecules or some process involved in the maintenance of newly-formed recombinant molecules.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Get just this article for as long as you need it
$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Bedbrook, J. R. & Ausubel, F. M. Cell 9, 707–716 (1976).
Potter, H. & Dressler, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 3000–3004 (1976).
Potter, H. & Dressler, D. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 4168–4172 (1977).
Potter, H. & Dressler, D. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 43, 969–985 (1978).
Kolodner, R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 77, 4847–4851 (1981).
James, A. A., Morrison, P. T. & Kolodner, R. J. molec. Biol. 160, 411–430 (1982).
Fishel, R. A., James, A. A. & Kolodner, R. Nature 294, 184–186 (1981).
Laban, A. & Cohen, A. Molec. gen. Genet. 184, 200–207 (1981).
Hershfield, V., Boyer, H. W., Chow, L. & Helinski, D. R. J. Bact. 126, 447–453 (1976).
Hardies, S. C. et al. J. biol. Chem. 254, 5527–5534 (1979).
Chang, A. C. Y. & Cohen, S. N. J. Bact. 134, 1141–1156 (1978).
Thompson, B. J. et al. J. molec. Biol. 91, 409–419 (1975).
Thompson, B. J., Camien, M. N. & Warner, R. W. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 2299–2303 (1976).
Warner, R. C., Fishel, R. A. & Wheeler, F. C. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. quant. Biol. 43, 957–968 (1978).
Gillen, J. R. & Clark, A. J. in Mechanisms in Recombination (ed. Grell, R. F.) 123–126 (Plenum, New York, 1974).
Stahl, F. W. A. Rev. Genet. 13, 7–24 (1979).
Smith, G. R., Camb, M., Schultz, D. W., Daniels, D. L. & Blattner, R. R. J. Virol. 37, 336–342 (1981).
Clark, A. J. ICN–UCLA Symp. molec. Cell Biol. 19, 891–899 (1980).
Fishel, R. A. thesis, Univ. California, Irvine (1980).
Maniatis, T., Jeffrey, A. & van de Sande, H. Biochemistry 14, 3787–3794 (1975).
Weiss, B., Jacquemin-Sablon, A., Live, T. R., Fareed, G. C. & Richardson, C. C. J. biol. Chem. 243, 4543–4555 (1968).
Wensink, P. C., Finnegan, D. J., Donelson, D. J. & Hogness, D. S. Cell 3, 315–325 (1977).
Klein, R. D., Selsing, E. & Wells, R. D. Plasmid 3, 88–91 (1980).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
James, A., Morrison, P. & Kolodner, R. Isolation of genetic elements that increase frequencies of plasmid recombinants. Nature 303, 256–259 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/303256a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/303256a0
This article is cited by
-
recB recJ mutants ofSalmonella typhimurium are deficient in transductional recombination, DNA repair and plasmid maintenance
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1996)
-
The Salmonella typbimurium RecJ function permits growth of P22 abc phage on recBCD + hosts
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1992)
-
Tn1000 insertional mutagenesis of cloned repressor gene of the phage L: Plasmid oligomerization in the presence of F’lac
Folia Microbiologica (1987)
-
Alteration of the gene for xanthine dehydrogenase in Drosophila following treatment with wildtype DNA
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1985)
-
Recombination between repeated DNA sequences occurs more often in plasmids than in the chromosome of Bacillus subtilis
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1984)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
