title: Activation of silent genes by transposons Tn5 and Tn10.
abstract: The presence of transposons Tn10 or Tn5 in the genome increases the frequency with which a silent (promoter-less) gene (hisD) is mutationally activated. The activation frequency is increased 5-25-fold by Tn10 and 30-90-fold by Tn5. Activation of the hisD gene is achieved by transposition of the entire transposon or one of its flanking insertion sequences to a region just upstream of the silent gene, between a Rho-dependent termination site in the adjacent hisG gene and the hisD gene. For both Tn5 and Tn10 the component insertion sequences were found to transpose much more frequently than the entire composite element. Transposons Tn5 and Tn10 have previously been shown to carry promoters which direct transcripts into sequences adjacent to their insertion sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Roth
mesh_terms: D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D009154:Mutation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D000429:Alcohol Oxidoreductases; C021358:histidinol dehydrogenase