title: Control of replication of plasmid R1: the intergenic region between copA and repA modulates the level of expression of repA.
abstract: The RepA protein of plasmid R1 is rate-limiting for initiation of R1 replication. Its synthesis is mainly regulated by interactions of the antisense RNA, CopA, with the leader region of the RepA mRNA, CopT. This work describes the characterization of several mutants with sequence alterations in the intergenic region between the copA gene and the repA reading frame. The analysis showed that most of the mutations led both to a decrease in stability of maintenance of mini-R1 derivatives and to lowered repA expression assayed in translational repA-lacZ fusion constructs. Destruction of the copA gene and replacement of the upstream region by the tac promoter in the latter constructs indicated that these mutations per se alter the expression of repA. In addition, we show that particular mutations in this region can directly affect CopA-mediated control, either by changing the kinetics of interaction of CopA RNA with the RepA mRNA and/or by modifying the activity of the copA promoter. These data indicate the importance of the region analysed in the process that controls R1 replication.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berzal-Herranz
authors.forename: E G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Díaz-Orejas
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D004265:DNA Helicases; D004261:DNA Replication; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D007438:Introns; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011506:Proteins; D011815:R Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D015534:Trans-Activators
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015534:Trans-Activators; C045264:replication initiator protein; D004265:DNA Helicases