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Journal of Bacteriology, August 1998, p. 4227-4232, Vol. 180, No. 16
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Received 4 March 1998/Accepted 17 June 1998
We sought a mutation in the DNA binding domain of the arabinose
operon regulatory protein, AraC, of Escherichia coli that allows the protein to bind DNA normally but not activate transcription. The mutation was isolated by mutagenizing a plasmid overproducing a
chimeric leucine zipper-AraC DNA binding domain and screening for
proteins that were trans dominant negative with regard to wild-type AraC protein. The mutant with the lowest transcription activation of the araBAD promoter was studied further. It
proved to alter a residue that had previously been demonstrated to
contact DNA. Because the overproduced mutant protein still bound DNA in vivo, it is deficient in transcription activation for some reason other
than absence of DNA binding. Using the phase-sensitive DNA bending
assay, we found that wild-type AraC bends DNA about 90° whereas the
mutant bends DNA by a smaller amount.
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
DNA Bending by AraC: a Negative Mutant
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biology, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Phone: (410) 516-5206. Fax: (410) 516-5213. E-mail: bob{at}gene.bio.jhu.edu.
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