title: Characterization of the umu-complementing operon from R391.
abstract: In addition to conferring resistances to antibiotics and heavy metals, certain R factors carry genes involved in mutagenic DNA repair. These plasmid-encoded genes are structurally and functionally related to the chromosomally encoded umuDC genes of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Three such plasmid operons, mucAB, impCAB, and samAB, have been characterized at the molecular level. Recently, we have identified three additional umu-complementing operons from IncJ plasmid R391 and IncL/M plasmids R446b and R471a. We report here the molecular characterization of the R391 umu-complementing operon. The nucleotide sequence of the minimal R plasmid umu-complementing (rum) region revealed an operon of two genes, rumA(R391) and rumB(R391), with an upstream regulatory signal strongly resembling LexA-binding sites. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the RumAB(R391) proteins are approximately equally diverged in sequence from the chromosomal UmuDC proteins and the other plasmid-encoded Umu-like proteins and represent a new subfamily. Genetic characterization of the rumAB(R391) operon revealed that in recA+ and recA1730 backgrounds, the rumAB(R391) operon was phenotypically indistinguishable from mucAB. In contrast, however, the rumAB(R391) operon gave levels of mutagenesis that were intermediate between those given by mucAB and umuDC in a recA430 strain. The latter phenotype was shown to correlate with the reduced posttranslational processing of the RumA(R391) protein to its mutagenically active form, RumA'(R391). Thus, the rumAB(R391) operon appears to possess characteristics that are reminiscent of both chromosome and plasmid-encoded umu-like operons.
authors.affiliation: Section on DNA Replication, Repair and Mutagenesis, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892-2725, USA.
authors.forename: O I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Kulaeva
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wootton
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Woodgate
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000528:radiation effects; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis / Q000235:genetics; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011815:R Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C063757:MucA protein, Bacteria; C093590:MucB protein, Bacteria; C093591:RumA protein, Bacteria; C093592:RumB protein, E coli; C078202:UmuC protein, E coli; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; C055218:UmuD protein, E coli