J. Bacteriol., 06 1996, 3614-3620, Vol 178, No. 12
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology

Polar allele duplication for transcriptional analysis of consecutive essential genes: application to a cluster of Escherichia coli fatty acid biosynthetic genes

Y Zhang and JE Cronan Jr
Departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801, USA.

The genes encoding acyl carrier protein and several key fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes are clustered at min 24 of the Escherichia coli chromosome. This cluster of genes is not transcribed as a classical operon, but rather multiple promoters are present and each gene is cotranscribed with at least one other gene. Transcripts specific for single genes ar also present. Transcription of acpP, the gene encoding acyl carrier protein, has been studied in detail. The acpP gene was shown to be transcribed from at least two different promoters by Northern (RNA) blot, primer extension, and deletion analyses, and the major promoter was mapped. We tested whether multiple promoters are necessary to produce acyl carrier protein by use of a new method whereby a transcriptional terminator was integrated into the chromosome upstream of the intact acpP gene. By use of this method (called polar allele duplication), we demonstrate that the promoter located immediately upstream of the coding sequence is sufficient for synthesis of this very abundant protein.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Tilley, L. D., Hine, O. S., Kellogg, J. A., Hassinger, J. N., Weller, D. D., Iversen, P. L., Geller, B. L. (2006). Gene-Specific Effects of Antisense Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomer-Peptide Conjugates on Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium in Pure Culture and in Tissue Culture.. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50: 2789-2796 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• De Lay, N. R., Cronan, J. E. (2006). Gene-Specific Random Mutagenesis of Escherichia coli In Vivo: Isolation of Temperature-Sensitive Mutations in the Acyl Carrier Protein of Fatty Acid Synthesis. J. Bacteriol. 188: 287-296 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Deere, J., Iversen, P., Geller, B. L. (2005). Antisense Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomer Length and Target Position Effects on Gene-Specific Inhibition in Escherichia coli. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49: 249-255 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ducasse-Cabanot, S., Cohen-Gonsaud, M., Marrakchi, H., Nguyen, M., Zerbib, D., Bernadou, J., Daffe, M., Labesse, G., Quemard, A. (2004). In Vitro Inhibition of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis {beta}-Ketoacyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductase MabA by Isoniazid. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48: 242-249 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Dehesh, K., Tai, H., Edwards, P., Byrne, J., Jaworski, J. G. (2001). Overexpression of 3-Ketoacyl-Acyl-Carrier Protein Synthase IIIs in Plants Reduces the Rate of Lipid Synthesis. Plant Physiol. 125: 1103-1114 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Allen, E. E., Bartlett, D. H. (2000). FabF Is Required for Piezoregulation of cis-Vaccenic Acid Levels and Piezophilic Growth of the Deep-Sea Bacterium Photobacterium profundum Strain SS9. J. Bacteriol. 182: 1264-1271 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tao, H., Bausch, C., Richmond, C., Blattner, F. R., Conway, T. (1999). Functional Genomics: Expression Analysis of Escherichia coli Growing on Minimal and Rich Media. J. Bacteriol. 181: 6425-6440 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Zhang, Y., Cronan, J. E. Jr. (1998). Transcriptional Analysis of Essential Genes of the Escherichia coli Fatty Acid Biosynthesis Gene Cluster by Functional Replacement with the Analogous Salmonella typhimurium Gene Cluster. J. Bacteriol. 180: 3295-3303 [Abstract] [Full Text]