SOS repair and DNA supercoiling influence the genetic stability of DNA triplet repeats in Escherichia coli

Majchrzak, Marta, Bowater, Richard P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2745-7807, Staczek, Pawel and Parniewski, Pawel (2006) SOS repair and DNA supercoiling influence the genetic stability of DNA triplet repeats in Escherichia coli. Journal of Molecular Biology, 364 (4). pp. 612-624. ISSN 1089-8638

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Molecular mechanisms responsible for the genetic instability of DNA trinucleotide sequences (TRS) account for at least 20 human hereditary disorders. Many aspects of DNA metabolism influence the frequency of length changes in such repeats. Herein, we demonstrate that expression of Escherichia coli SOS repair proteins dramatically decreases the genetic stability of long (CTG/CAG)n tracts contained in plasmids. Furthermore, the growth characteristics of the bacteria are affected by the (CTG/CAG)n tract, with the effect dependent on the length of the TRS. In an E. coli host strain with constitutive expression of the SOS regulon, the frequency of deletions to the repeat is substantially higher than that in a strain with no SOS response. Analyses of the topology of reporter plasmids isolated from the SOS+ and SOS– strains revealed higher levels of negative supercoiling in strains with the constitutively expressed SOS network. Hence, we used strains with mutations in topoisomerases to examine the effect of DNA topology upon the TRS instability. Higher levels of negative DNA supercoiling correlated with increased deletions in long (CTG/CAG)n, (CGG/CCG)n and (GAA/TTC)n. These observations suggest a link between the induction of bacterial SOS repair, changes in DNA topology and the mechanisms leading to genetic instability of repetitive DNA sequences.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Molecular and Structural Biochemistry
Depositing User:	EPrints Services
Date Deposited:	01 Oct 2010 13:38
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2024 09:45
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/1345
DOI:	10.1016/j.jmb.2006.08.093

Actions (login required)

View Item