We attempted Rapamycin concentration to make in-frame deletions internal to individual dnd genes at their corresponding PLX3397 molecular weight chromosomal loci to avoid polar effects. Apart from the dndB in-frame deletion mutant HXY2 [8] (Fig. 3), extensive efforts to obtain mutants specific to other dnd genes directly on the wild-type S. lividans 1326 chromosome failed for unknown reasons. We therefore attempted to develop a mutation-integration system by first generating a complete set of in-frame deletions of individual dnd gene in vitro in E. coli. These mutated dnd genes were then integrated back into the chromosome of S.lividans HXY6 (generated by targeted deletion of the complete dnd locus, [8]).
A complete set of pSET152-derived integration plasmids with targeted in-frame deletions of the five dnd genes was generated by PCR and cloned into E. coli [detailed in Methods, pHZ2862 (651-bp deletion in dndA); pJTU1202 (729-bp deletion in dndB); pJTU1211 (819-bp deletion in dndC); pJTU1214 (1,704-bp deletion in dndD); and pJTU1219 (216-bp deletion in dndE), respectively]. These plasmids were introduced into HXY6 to obtain mutants XTG1-XTG5 with in-frame deletions in dndA-E in a uniform parental background. Isogenic mutant strains (XTG1-XTG5) were assayed for their
Dnd phenotype. Interestingly, while the Dnd phenotype, as displayed by degradation of chromosomal AC220 molecular weight (Fig. 4A) or plasmid pHZ209 (Fig. 4B) DNA isolated from strains XTG1, XTG3, XTG4, and XTG5 (corresponding to dndA, C, D, E) was clearly abolished, DNA isolated from XTG2 retained the Dnd phenotype, clearly showing that dndA, C, D, and E are all essential for DNA phosphorothioation. Single-stranded DNA modification, which should be indicated by shifting of the covalently closed
circular (CCC) to the open circular (OC) form for plasmid pHZ209 DNA if cleaved by the electrophoresis buffer, was not observed with these mutants (Fig. 4B), as also found for HXY1 (data not shown). Figure 4 Dnd phenotype of 1326 and related dnd mutants. (A) Dnd phenotype of chromosomal DNA for 1326 and related dnd mutants. (B) Dnd phenotype of plasmids pHZ209 isolated from 1326 and related dnd mutants. (C) Dnd phenotype of chromosomal 4��8C DNA from complemented dnd mutants. DNA was first treated with TAE (top panel) or peracetic acid TAE (bottom panel) before fractionation by electrophoresis in TAE with added thiourea. M: DNA markers; CCC: covalently closed circular plasmid; OC: open circular plasmid. L: linear plasmid. A close comparison of the Dnd phenotypes displayed by the wild-type 1326 and the dndB mutant XTG2, however, revealed a clear difference. The degradation “”smear”" from the genomic DNA of XTG2 migrated much faster than that from wild-type strain 1326 (Fig. 4A). Smaller genomic DNA fragments, or more frequently degraded genomic DNAs, were observed in the mutant XTG2 than the wild-type strain 1326.