title: Translation of vph mRNA in Streptomyces lividans and Escherichia coli after removal of the 5' untranslated leader.
abstract: The Streptomyces vinaceus viomycin phosphotransferase (vph) mRNA contains an untranslated leader with a conventional Shine-Dalgarno homology. The vph leader was removed by ligation of the vph coding sequence to the transcriptional start site of a Streptomyces or an Escherichia coli promoter, such that transcription would initiate at the first position of the vph start codon. Analysis of mRNA demonstrated that transcription initiated primarily at the A of the vph AUG translational start codon in both Streptomyces lividans and E. coli; cells expressing the unleadered vph mRNA were resistant to viomycin indicating that the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, or other features contained within the leader, was not necessary for vph translation. Addition of four nucleotides (5'-AUGC-3') onto the 5' end of the unleadered vph mRNA resulted in translation initiation from the vph start codon and the AUG triplet contained within the added sequence. Translational fusions of vph sequence to a Tn5 neo reporter gene indicated that the first 16 codons of vph coding sequence were sufficient to specify the translational start site and reading frame for expression of neomycin resistance in both E. coli and S. lividans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Janssen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D018387:Codon, Initiator; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D019868:Kanamycin Kinase; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor) / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D013302:Streptomyces / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D014756:Viomycin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018387:Codon, Initiator; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D017853:Phosphotransferases (Alcohol Group Acceptor); C103988:viomycin kinase; D019868:Kanamycin Kinase; D014756:Viomycin