title: Mutagenesis and repair in Bacillus anthracis: the effect of mutators.
abstract: We have generated mutator strains of Bacillus anthracis Sterne by using directed gene knockouts to investigate the effect of deleting genes involved in mismatch repair, oxidative repair, and maintaining triphosphate pools. The single-knockout strains are deleted for mutS, mutY, mutM, or ndk. We also made double-knockout strains that are mutS ndk or mutY mutM. We have measured the levels of mutations in the rpoB gene that lead to the Rif(r) phenotype and have examined the mutational specificity. In addition, we examined the mutational specificity of two mutagens, 5-azacytidine and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitroso-guanidine. The mutY and mutM single knockouts are weak mutators by themselves, but the combination of mutY mutM results in very high mutation rates, all due to G:C --> T:A transversions. The situation parallels that seen in Escherichia coli. Also, mutS knockouts are strong mutators and even stronger in the presence of a deletion of ndk. The number of sites in rpoB that can result in the Rif(r) phenotype by single-base substitution is more limited than in certain other bacteria, such as E. coli and Deinococcus radiodurans, although the average mutation rate per mutational site is roughly comparable. Hotspots at sites with virtually identical surrounding sequences are organism specific.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Krystle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zeibell
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aguila
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yan Shi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Hanjing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D053843:DNA Mismatch Repair; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics; D017353:Gene Deletion; D008769:Methylnitronitrosoguanidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009153:Mutagens / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009153:Mutagens; D008769:Methylnitronitrosoguanidine; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D001374:Azacitidine