Genetic stability and DNA rearrangements associated with a 2 x 1.1-Kb perfect palindrome in Escherichia coli.
We show that circular plasmids containing perfect palindromic regions of 2 x 1.1 kb can be propagated in sbcC strains of Escherichia coli, a result that is at variance with the well known observation that lambda DNA cannot tolerate palindromic regions larger than 2 x 265 bp. However, a significant fraction of these palindrome-containing plasmids can be recovered from E. coli strains either as linear molecules with hairpins at their ends or as head-to-head dimers, both in a RuvC-and RusA-independent manner. Our results suggests that large palindromes may form cruciforms in E. coli. However, palindrome-associated DNA rearrangements occur by a process that does not require any known cruciform resolvase activity. Our data support a replication-dependent model for the induction of DNA rearrangements by perfect palindromes.
Malagón
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F
Departamento de Genética, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.
Aguilera
A
A
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D010582:Bacteriophage lambda / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D045565:Holliday Junction Resolvases; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004279:DNA, Viral; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C069806:ruvC protein, E coli; D004706:Endodeoxyribonucleases; D045565:Holliday Junction Resolvases; C112057:RusA protein, E coli