ISSN:
1617-4623
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Summary A mutant of Escherichia coli, AB105, low in the level of ribonuclease III (an enzyme which degrades double-stranded RNA only), was obtained after treating cells of a ribonuclease I-free strain, A19, with nitrosoguanidine [Kindler, Kiel, and Hofschneider: Molec. gen. Genet. 126, 53–69 (1973)]. By a series of consecutive transductions, using a single E. coli strain, D10, related to the parental strain, as donor, we showed that strain AB105 is separated from strain A19 by at least seven mutations. In order to carry out these transductions, we made use of a number of phenotypic differences which distinguish strains A19 and AB105, such as poor growth on minimal medium or rich medium at any temperature, inability to utilize a variety of carbon sources, etc. After removing some of those mutations it became possible to transduce into such strains the RNase III+ allele from the donor strain D10. Pairs of RNase III+ and RNase III- strains, related one to the other by a single transduction were compared. T4 titers on both types of strains with the same efficiency, while T7 and λ titer better on RNase III+ strains. RNase III+ strains grow slightly better than RNase III- strains at all temperatures, however, at elevated temperatures RNase III+ strains unlike RNase III- strains fail to grow on minimal medium. Thus it seems that the mutation to RNase III- in strain AB105 compensates for some defect that does not permit such strains to grow on minimal medium at elevated temperatures. The enzyme seems to have an indispensible function in the cell but this function is not known yet.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00272175
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