1887

Microbiology Society logo

Volume 144, Issue 6

Chromosomal marker exchange in the thermophilic archaeon : physiological and cellular aspects Free

Abstract

Exchange and recombination of chromosomal markers is an intrinsic genetic property of the thermoacidophilic archaeon that has not been thoroughly characterized. To clarify the mechanism and experimental usefulness of this process, the frequency of prototrophs produced from mixtures of two pyrimidine auxotrophs under a variety of conditions was determined. The apparent efficiency of genetic exchange was essentially independent of the density of cells deposited on the surface of solid media. Furthermore, recombinant formation could initiate in liquid suspensions, as indicated by high recombinant frequencies resulting from mixtures plated at low cell densities, and the formation of recombinants at equal or higher frequencies in liquid suspensions that were never plated. Apparent initiation of genetic exchange in liquid at 22 °C was not prevented by DNase, prior digestion of parental cells with protease from , or any other non-lethal chemical agent tested. The results support prior indications that chromosomal marker exchange in proceeds via conjugation, and further indicate that this conjugation can initiate quickly in dilute liquid suspension. The mating system of thus appears physiologically distinct from that of but perhaps similar to conjugational transfer of plasmid pNOB8. The frequency of recombinants formed in these assays (10-10 per c.f.u.) greatly exceeds the number of spontaneous forward mutational events per generation for biosynthetic genes in This suggests that chromosomal exchange has the potential to influence the genetic dynamics of natural populations.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): archaea , cellular mechanism , conjugation , genetic exchange and geothermal environments
© Society Society for General Microbiology, 1998
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649
1998-06-01
2024-04-23
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/144/6/mic-144-6-1649.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Barns, S. M., Fundyga, R., Jeffries, M., Pace, N. R. (1994); Remarkable archaeal diversity detected in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring environment.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91, 1609 1613
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Baumeister, W., Hegerl, R. (1986); Can S-layers make bacterial connexons?. FEMS Microbiol Lett 36, 119 125
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Baumeister, W., Lembcke, G. (1992); Structural features of archaebacterial cell envelopes.. J Bioenerg and Biomembr 24, 567 575
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bernstein, H., Byerly, H., Hopf, F., Michod, R. (1985) DNA repair and complementation: the major factors in the origin and maintenance of sex.. In Edited by Halvorson, H., Monroy, A. The Origin and Evolution of Sex. New York:: Alan R. Liss.; –29—45
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Brown, J. R., Doolittle, W. F. (1995); Root of the universal tree of life based on ancient aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase gene duplications.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92, 2441 2445
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Clark, A. J., Warren, G. J. (1979); Conjugal transmission of plasmids.. Annu Rev Genet, Vol 45 13, 99 125
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Clewell, D. B. (1985) Sex pheromones, plasmids, and conjugation in Streptococcus faecalis.. In Edited by Halvorson H., Monroy A. The Origin and Evolution of Sex. New York:: Alan R. Liss.; 3 28
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Clewell, D. B. (1993) Sex pheromones and the plasmid-encoded mating response in Enterococcus faecalis.. In Edited by Clewell, D. B. Bacterial Conjugation. New York:: Plenum.; 349 367
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Cohan, F. M. (1994); Genetic exchange and evolutionary divergence in prokaryotes.. Trends Ecol Evol 9, 175 180
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Douglas, K., Devaud, G., Clark, N. A. (1992); Transfer of biologically derived nanometer-scale patterns to smooth substrates.. Science 257, 642 644
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Grogan, D. W. (1996a); Exchange of genetic markers at extremely high temperatures in the archaeon S. acidocaldarius.. J Bacteriol 178, 3207 3211
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Grogan, D. W. (1996b); Organization and interactions of cell envelope proteins of the extreme thermoacidophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.. Can J Microbiol 42, 1163 1171
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Grogan, D. W. (1997); Photoreactivation in an archaeon from geothermal environments.. Microbiology 143, 1071 1076
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Hershberger, K. L., Barns S., Reysenbach, S., Dawson, A.-L., Pace, N. (1996); Wide diversity of Crenarchaeota.. Nature 384, 420.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hopwood, D. A., Kieser, T. (1993) Conjugative plasmids of Streptomyces.. In Edited by Clewell, D. B. Bacterial Conjugation, New York:: Plenum.; 293 311
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Ike, Y., Clewell, D. B. (1984); Genetic analysis of the pADl pheromone response in Streptococcus faecalis, using transposon Tn917 as an insertional mutagen.. J Bacteriol 158, 777 783
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Jacobs, K. L., Grogan, D. W. (1997); Rates of spontaneous mutation in an archaeon from geothermal environments.. J Bacteriol 179, 3298 3303
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Jones, W. J., Nagle, D. P. Jr, Whitman, W. (1987); Methanogens and the diversity of Archaebacteria.. Microbiol Rev 51, 135 177
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Macrina, F. L., Archer, G. L. (1993) Conjugation and broad host range plasmids in streptococci and staphylococci.. In Edited by Clewell, D. B. Bacterial Conjugation, New York:: Plenum.; 313 329
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Maloy, S., Cronan, J. E. Jr,, Freifelder, D. (1994), Microbial Genetics, , 2nd edn. Boston, MA:: Jones and Bartlett.; 311.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Maynard Smith, J. (1994); Estimating the minimum rate of genetic transformation in bacteria.. J Evol Biol 1, 525 534
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Maynard Smith, J., Smith, N. H., O'Rourke, M., Spratt, B. G. (1993); How clonal are bacteria ?. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90, 4384 4388
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Mevarech, M., Werczberger, R. (1985); Genetic transfer in Halobacterium volcanii.. J Bacteriol 162, 461 462
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Mullakhanbhai, M., Larsen, H. (1975); Halobacterium volcanii, sp. nov, a Dead Sea Halobacterium with a moderate salt requirement.. Biochim Biopbys Acta 65, 506 508
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Poplawski, A., Bernander, R. (1997); Nucleoid structure and distribution in thermophilic archaea.. J Bacteriol 179, 7625 7630
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Rosenshine, I., Mevarech, M. (1991) The kinetic of the genetic exchange process in Halobacterium volcanii mating.. In Edited by Rodriguez-Valera, F. General and Applied Aspects of Halopbilic Micro-organisms. New York:: Plenum,; 265 270
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Rosenshein, I., Tchelet, R., Mevarech, M. (1989); The mechanism of DNA transfer in the mating system of an archaebacterium.. Science 245, 1387 1389
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Schleper, C., Holz, I., Janekovic, D., Murphy, J., Zillig, W. (1995a); A multicopy plasmid of the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus effects its transfer to recipients by mating.. J Bacteriol 177, 4417 4426
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Schleper, C., Puhler, G., Holz, I., Gambacorta, A., Janekovic, D., Santarius, U., Klenk, H. -P., tillig, W. (1995b); Picrophilus gen. nov., fam. nov: a novel heterotrophic, thermoacidophilic genus and family comprising archaea capable of growth around pH 0.. J Bacteriol 111, 7050 7059
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Stetter, K. O., Fiala, G., Huber, R., Segerer, A. (1990); Hyperthermophilic microorganisms.. FEMS Microbiol Rev 75, 117 124
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Wilkins, B. M. (1995) Gene transfer by bacterial conjugation: diversity of systems and functional specializations.. In Edited by Baumberg, S., Young, J. P. W., Wellington, E. M. H., Saunders, J. R. Population Genetics of Bacteria, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press.; 72.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Willets, N., Skurray, R. (1980); The conjugation system of F-like plasmids.. Annu Rev Genet, Vol 45 14, 41 76
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Woese, C. R., Kandler, O., Wheelis, M., Wheelis M. (1990); Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya.. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87, 4576 4579
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Wood, E., Ghane, F., Grogan, D. (1997); Genetic responses of the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius to short-wavelength UV light.. Journal of Bacteriology 179, 5693 5698
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649
Loading
Chromosomal marker exchange in the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius: physiological and cellular aspects
Microbiology 144, 1649 (1998); https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-6-1649
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Most cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error