title: Overproduction of four functionally active proteins, TnsA, B, C, and D, required for Tn7 transposition to its attachment site, attTn7.
abstract: The bacterial transposon Tn7 encodes five trans-acting transposition genes, tnsA, B, C, D, and E. Tn7 requires four of these genes, tnsA, B, C, and D, for a novel transposition pathway: high-efficiency site-specific transposition to a chromosomal attachment site, attTn7. Plasmids that individually allow inducible overexpression of proteins from the first initiation codon of four of these genes were constructed. Escherichia coli strains carrying these plasmids were used to overexpress the TnsA, B, C, and D proteins. The abundance and the apparent relative molecular mass of these proteins were examined and the latter was compared to those predicted from wild-type Tn7. The functionality of these proteins, encoded by an overexpression construct, was demonstrated by the fact that they could efficiently trans-complement a defective mini-Tn7 carrying only the cis-essential Tn7 termini in an in vivo assay for transposition to attTn7.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cotterill
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000502:physiology*; D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors