Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6699-6706, Vol. 183, No. 22
Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Centre
Hospitalier de l'Université Laval, and
Département de Biochimie et de Microbiologie, Faculté des
Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Québec,
Canada
Received 19 July 2001/Accepted 31 August 2001
Integrons are genetic elements capable of integrating genes by a
site-specific recombination system catalyzed by an integrase. Integron
integrases are members of the tyrosine recombinase family and possess
the four invariant residues (RHRY) and conserved motifs (boxes I and II
and patches I, II, and III). An alignment of integron integrases
compared to other tyrosine recombinases shows an additional group of
residues around the patch III motif. We have analyzed the DNA binding
and recombination properties of class I integron integrase (IntI1)
variants carrying mutations at residues that are well conserved among
all tyrosine recombinases and at some residues from the additional
motif that are conserved among the integron integrases. The
well-conserved residues studied were H277 from the conserved tetrad
RHRY (about 90% conserved), E121 found in the patch I motif (about
80% conserved in prokaryotic recombinases), K171 from the patch II
motif (near 100% conserved), W229 and F233 from the patch III motif,
and G302 of box II (about 80% conserved in prokaryotic recombinases).
Additional IntI1 mutated residues were K219 and a deletion of the
sequence ALER215. We observed that E121, K171, and G302 play a role in
the recombination activity but can be mutated without disturbing
binding to DNA. W229, F233, and the conserved histidine (H277) may be
implicated in protein folding or DNA binding. Some of the extra
residues of IntI1 seem to play a role in DNA binding (K219) while
others are implicated in the recombination activity (ALER215 deletion).
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.22.6699-6706.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Integron Integrases Possess a Unique Additional
Domain Necessary for Activity
*
Corresponding author. Mailing adress: Centre de
Recherche en Infectiologie, CHUL, Local RC-709, 2705 Boul. Laurier,
Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1V 4G2. Phone: (418) 654-2705. Fax:
(418) 654-2715. E-mail: Paul.H.Roy{at}crchul.ulaval.ca.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»