title: Involvement of E. coli dcm methylase in Tn3 transposition.
abstract: The effects of DNA methyltransferases on Tn3 transposition were investigated. The E. coli dam (deoxyadenosine methylase) gene was found to have no effect on Tn3 transposition. In contrast, Tn3 was found to transpose more frequently in dcm+ (deoxycytosine methylase) cells than in dcm- mutants. When the EcoRII methylase gene was introduced into dcm- cells (E. coli strain GM208), the frequency of Tn3 transposition in GM208 was dramatically increased. The EcoRII methylase recognizes and methylates the same sequence as does the dcm methylase. These results suggest that deoxycytosine methylase modified DNA may be a preferred target for Tn3 transposition. Experiments were also performed to determine whether the Tn3 transposase was involved in DNA modification. Plasmid DNA isolated from dcm- E. coli containing the Tn3 transposase gene was susceptible to ApyI digestion but resistant to EcoRI digestion, suggesting that Tn3 transposase modified the dcm recognition sequence. In addition, restriction enzymes TaqI, AvaII, BglI and HpaII did not digest this DNA completely, suggesting that the recognition sequences of TaqI, AvaII, BglI and HpaII were modified by Tn3 transposase to a certain degree. The type(s), the extent and mechanism(s) of this modification remain to be investigated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Fu-Jen University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Ser
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D015257:DNA-Cytosine Methylases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI / Q000378:metabolism; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019895:Transposases
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C029528:DNA modification methylase EcoRII; D015257:DNA-Cytosine Methylases; D009713:Nucleotidyltransferases; D019895:Transposases; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI; C046545:CCWGG-specific type II deoxyribonucleases; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific