title: Ribosome recycling factor (ribosome releasing factor) is essential for bacterial growth.
abstract: Ribosome releasing factor, product of the frr gene in Escherichia coli, is responsible for dissociation of ribosomes from mRNA after the termination of translation. It functions to "recycle" ribosomes and is renamed ribosome recycling factor in this paper. An E. coli strain was constructed (MC1061-2), which carried frame-shifted frr in the chromosome and wild-type frr on a temperature-sensitive plasmid. MC1061-2 is temperature-sensitive in its growth and does not segregate its frr-carrying plasmid under the plasmid incompatibility pressure. In contrast, isogenic E. coli carrying wild-type frr in the chromosome and mutated frr on the temperature-sensitive plasmid is not temperature-sensitive in its growth and segregates its plasmid from incompatible plasmids. All spontaneously formed thermoresistant colonies derived from MC1061-2 carried wild-type frr that resided either in the bacterial chromosome by re-exchange or in the plasmid, which became temperature-resistant. These observations establish that frr is an essential gene for cell growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Janosi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaji
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D003062:Codon; D017931:DNA Primers; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010957:Plasmids; D011506:Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003062:Codon; D017931:DNA Primers; D011506:Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; C087267:ribosome releasing factor