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Journal of Bacteriology, July 1999, p. 3880-3885, Vol. 181, No. 13
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Characterization of a dam Mutant of Serratia marcescens and Nucleotide Sequence of the dam Region

Tammo Ostendorf,dagger Peter Cherepanov,Dagger Johann de Vries, and Wilfried Wackernagel*

Genetik, Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany

Received 2 February 1999/Accepted 29 April 1999

The DNA of Serratia marcescens has N6-adenine methylation in GATC sequences. Among 2-aminopurine-sensitive mutants isolated from S. marcescens Sr41, one was identified which lacked GATC methylation. The mutant showed up to 30-fold increased spontaneous mutability and enhanced mutability after treatment with 2-aminopurine, ethyl methanesulfonate, or UV light. The gene (dam) coding for the adenine methyltransferase (Dam enzyme) of S. marcescens was identified on a gene bank plasmid which alleviated the 2-aminopurine sensitivity and the higher mutability of a dam-13::Tn9 mutant of Escherichia coli. Nucleotide sequencing revealed that the deduced amino acid sequence of Dam (270 amino acids; molecular mass, 31.3 kDa) has 72% identity to the Dam enzyme of E. coli. The dam gene is located between flanking genes which are similar to those found to the sides of the E. coli dam gene. The results of complementation studies indicated that like Dam of E. coli and unlike Dam of Vibrio cholerae, the Dam enzyme of S. marcescens plays an important role in mutation avoidance by allowing the mismatch repair enzymes to discriminate between the parental and newly synthesized strands during correction of replication errors.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Genetik, Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Oldenburg, Postfach 2503, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany. Phone: 49-441-798 3298. Fax: 49-441-798 5606. E-mail: genetics{at}biologie.uni-oldenburg.de.

dagger Present address: Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Abteilung Nephrologie, OE 6840, D-30625 Hannover, Germany.

Dagger Present address: Rega Institute for Medical Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 1999, p. 3880-3885, Vol. 181, No. 13
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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