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J Bacteriol, June 1998, p. 2862-2865, Vol. 180, No. 11
Biology Department, University of Rochester,
Rochester, New York 14627-0211
Received 10 November 1997/Accepted 20 March 1998
Adaptive mutations are mutations that occur in nondividing or very
slowly dividing microbial cells during prolonged nonlethal selection
and that are specific to the challenge of the selection in the sense
that the only mutations that can be detected are those that provide a
growth advantage to the cell. The phoPQ genes encode a
two-component positively acting regulatory system that controls
expression of at least 25 to 30 genes in Escherichia coli
and Salmonella typhimurium. PhoPQ responds to a variety of environmental stress signals including Mg2+ starvation and
nutritional deprivation. Here I show that disruption of
phoP or phoQ by
Tn10dCam significantly reduces the adaptive mutation rate to ebgR, indicating that the adaptive
mutagenesis machinery is regulated, directly or indirectly, by
phoPQ. The finding that it is regulated implies that
adaptive mutagenesis does not simply result from a failure of various
error correction mechanisms during prolonged starvation.
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Adaptive Mutagenesis at ebgR Is
Regulated by PhoPQ
*
Mailing address: Biology Dept., Hutchison Hall,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0211. Phone: (716)
275-0721. Fax: (716) 275-2070. E-mail:
drbh{at}uhura.cc.rochester.edu.
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