title: Genetic and molecular analyses of the C-terminal region of the recE gene from the Rac prophage of Escherichia coli K-12 reveal the recT gene.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the C-terminal region of the recE gene of the Rac prophage of Escherichia coli K-12 reveals the presence of a partially overlapping reading frame we call recT. Deletion mutations show that recT is required for the RecE pathway of conjugational recombination. By cloning recT with a plasmid vector compatible with pBR322, we showed by cis-trans tests that the portion of the recE gene encoding ExoVIII DNA nuclease activity is also required for RecE pathway conjugational recombination. The recT gene can replace the redB gene of lambda for recA-independent plasmid recombination. A Tn10 insertion mutation previously thought to be in recE is located in recT and is renamed recT101::Tn10. Discrepancies between the molecular mass estimates of wild-type ExoVIII protein determined from mobility in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and calculated from the predicted amino acid sequence are discussed. The hypothesis that wild-type ExoVIII protein results from fusion of RecE and RecT proteins is disproved genetically, thus supporting a previous hypothesis that the discrepancies are due to abnormal protein mobility in SDS-PAGE. A computer-performed scan of the bacteriophage nucleotide sequence data base of GenBank revealed substantial similarity between most of recE and a 2.5-kb portion of the b2 region of lambda. This suggests interesting speculations concerning the evolutionary relationship of lambda and Rac prophages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Barker/Koshland ASU, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brenowitz
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sandler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Satin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Templin
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003090:Coliphages / Q000235:genetics*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI / Q000378:metabolism; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005090:Exodeoxyribonucleases / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics*; D016364:Reading Frames; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C084497:RecT protein, E coli; D005090:Exodeoxyribonucleases; C038225:recE protein, E coli; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI; C034510:CTCGAG-specific type II deoxyribonucleases; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific