An immunoradiometric quantitative assay of Escherichia coli recA protein

UV resistance of E. coli K-12 deficient in cAMP/CRP regulation

Deletion of genes for adenylate cyclase (delta cya) or cAMP receptor protein (delta crp) in E. coli K-12 confers a phenotype that includes resistance to UV radiation (254 nm). Such mutations lead to UV resistance of uvr+, uvrA, lexA and recA strains which could partly be abolished by the addition of cAMP to delta cya but not to delta crp strain culture medium. This effect was not related to either inducibility of major DNA repair genes or growth rate of the bacteria. Enhanced survival was also observed for UV-irradiated lambda bacteriophage indicating that a repair mechanism of UV lesions was involved in this phenomenon.

Immunological quantification of RecA protein in cell extracts of E. coli after exposure to chemical mutagens or UV radiation

Increased synthesis of RecA protein is induced in E. coli cells after their damage, the rate of synthesis being dependent on the extent of DNA alterations. The level of the RecA protein was determined in E. coli cell extracts after damage induced by NQO, MNNG, MMC, NAL or UV radiation, using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Purified E. coli RecA protein and rabbit monospecific polyclonal antibodies against it were prepared for the quantitative assay. The level of the RecA protein was increased after treatment with all mutagens. Contrary to other induced proteins, the synthesis of the RecA protein increased within 30 min after damage with UV radiation at a relatively slow rate. The ELISA method made it possible to determine 0.5-50 ng of the RecA protein in bacterial extracts. The method can be employed as an auxiliary test for DNA damage determination and also in studied concerning the role of the RecA protein in repair processes.

Identification of a mouse cDNA fragment whose expressed polypeptide reacts with anti-recA antibodies

We have previously reported the in vivo detection of a mouse nuclear protein that cross-reacts with antibodies raised against E coli recA protein. Here, we characterize monospecific anti-recA antibodies, their use for the immunological screening of a cDNA expression library and the isolation of a mouse cDNA fragment which codes for a polypeptide recognized by anti-recA antibodies. The cDNA fragment is 601 nucleotide long and was called KIN17(601). It contains an open reading frame coding for a 200 amino acid polypeptide. In kin17(200) polypeptide, there are amino acids identical to those that form one of the major antigenic determinants of recA protein. Kin17(200) polypeptide also displays a significant similarity with the helix 1 motif of several homeoproteins.

On the polymerization state of recA in the absence of DNA

We present an electron microscopy study on the polymerization state of recA in the absence of DNA. In solution recA exists as monomers, small complexes not clearly longer than wide (approximately 9-18 nm), and filaments (diameter approximately 11 nm and variable lengths). We have attempted to quantify the relative amounts of these species by length measurements of the particles on electron micrographs. The percentages of each of these types was found to depend on recA concentration, temperature and presence in the incubation mixture of Mg2+, ATP gamma S, salt or D2O. These additives do not have an absolute effect on polymerization but rather shift the polymerization equilibrium of recA (which depends on recA concentration) up or down the concentration scale.

Activation of recA protein: the salt-induced structural transition

Purified recA protein is induced by high salt concentrations to hydrolyse ATP even in the absence of DNA. By small angle neutron scattering we show that this salt activation results from a structural transition of the protein filament in the presence of ATP gamma S from the inactive, compact form (a helical polymer of pitch 70 A and cross-sectional radius of gyration Rc 40 A) to the open form (a helical filament of pitch 95 A and Rc 35 A, which are the same structural parameters as in the ATPase active complex with DNA and ATP), without detectable change in the degree of association. We conclude that activation of recA is due to the same structural change whether induced by the binding of DNA or by salt. Indeed, the other enzymatic activity of recA, the proteolytic cleavage of the lexA repressor, is found to be inducible by the same salt concentrations as those of the structural transition.

Modulation of the SOS response by truncated RecA proteins

RecA protein plays several key roles in the SOS response. We have constructed truncated proteins and examined their capacity to accomplish Weigle reactivation and mutagenesis of bacteriophage lambda and recombination in Escherichia coli. Our data indicate that the 17 carboxyl terminal amino acids are not essential to RecA function. However in the presence of wild-type RecA protein, the truncated protein reduces the efficiency of recombination without affecting either mutagenesis or induction of an SOS gene or Weigle reactivation. The data presented here suggest that activation of RecA protein does not involve mixed multimers or is not affected by their presence.

Activated RecA protein may induce expression of a gene that is not controlled by the LexA repressor and whose function is required for mutagenesis and repair of UV-irradiated bacteriophage lambda

The activated form of the RecA protein (RecA) is known to be involved in the reactivation and mutagenesis of UV-irradiated bacteriophage lambda and in the expression of the SOS response in Escherichia coli K-12. The expression of the SOS response requires cleavage of the LexA repressor by RecA and the subsequent expression of LexA-controlled genes. The evidence presented here suggests that RecA induces the expression of a gene(s) that is not under LexA control and that is also necessary for maximal repair and mutagenesis of damaged phage. This conclusion is based on the chloramphenicol sensitivity of RecA -dependent repair and mutagenesis of damaged bacteriophage lambda in lexA(Def) hosts.

A bacterial strain for detecting agents that produce free radical-mediated DNA strand breaks

In an E. coli strain carrying two mutations, one in the dnaC gene involved in initiation of DNA replication and another in the uvrB gene which affects the excision-repair system, it has been shown that the SOS response cannot be induced by UV. This is probably due to the absence of any inducing signal (Salles and Defais, 1984). The capacity to induce the SOS network was followed using RecA protein amplification as a probe. When breaks were produced in DNA, RecA protein induction was restored. We describe here a strain in which both RecA protein and beta-galactosidase from a sfiA::lacZ fusion can be measured simultaneously in the same bacterial extract. In conditions in which no replication proceeds, this strain can be used to detect the ability of chemicals to produce free radical-mediated DNA breaks in vivo.

Further characterization of an E. coli strain resistant to the toxic and mutagenic action of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)

An increased resistance to the toxic and mutagenic activity of the antitumor drug cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cis-DDP) in the E. coli strain BS21 compared to its wild-type parent, F26, has been reported. This resistance was neither due to different binding of cis-DDP to DNA nor to adaptive DNA repair (Germanier et al., 1984). In the present work, we found that mutation of the uvrA, recA and polA genes did not abolish the resistance of BS21 to the toxic action of cis-DDP. The lower mutability of BS21 was not influenced by the polA mutation, while uvrA greatly reduced and recA eliminated the mutagenic activity of cis-DDP in both strains. Treatment of BS21 and F26 with equal doses of cis-DDP produced the same initial number of platinum-DNA lesions. Little excision repair was detected in vivo in either strain during 6-h post-treatment incubation, the F26 strain being the most efficient of the two for this process. In contrast, F26 and BS21 were transformed identically by pBR322 DNA which had been treated with cis-DDP in vitro. Analysis of the platinum-DNA adducts which were formed between cis-DDP and salmon sperm DNA in the buffer conditions of this experiment suggests that plasmid DNA contains 80% monofunctional adducts and 20% bifunctional bis-guanine adducts. These data indicate that the selective toxicity and mutagenicity of these two strains in vivo are neither a result of different numbers of Pt-DNA lesions nor of their repair. The selectivity disappeared when the two bacterial strains were transformed by pBR322 DNA containing identical platinum-DNA lesions, suggesting that the biochemical events which process platinum-DNA lesions are the same in both strains. Hence, it appears that cis-DDP may form qualitatively different platinum-DNA adducts in the BS21 and F26 strains which are responsible for the different toxicity and mutagenicity.

Relationship between cytostatic activity of oxazolopyridocarbazoles and accessibility of DNA intercalation sites in living bacteria

The ability of oxazolopyridocarbazole (OPC) derivatives to interact with DNA in living bacteria through reversible intercalation has been determined by using as probes their selective mutagenic effect on Salmonella typhimurium TA 1977 and TA 1537 as detected by frame-shift-1 reversion, the absence of intervention of the error-prone repair system on the mutagenic efficiency, the absence of induction of the SOS functions, and the absence of effect of recA and uvrB mutations on their bacteriostatic properties. Involvement of simple reversible intercalation as the event responsible for the bacteriostatic effect of the drugs has been further investigated by the establishment of a significant correlation between the maximum number of accessible intercalating sites in living bacteria and the bacteriostatic effect expressed in terms of the ED50. This correlation has been established by using bacteria spontaneously exhibiting different sensitivities toward the drugs as well as a resistant strain obtained by adaptation in the presence of increasing amounts of isopropyl-OPC. The number of intercalating sites in living bacteria was determined by using the change in the fluorescence properties of the drugs upon binding to intercalating sites. The results obtained clearly demonstrate that the number of intercalating sites is the parameter that controls the bacteriostatic effect of the drugs, indicating that DNA is the target for these drugs and that reversible intercalation is responsible for the cytostatic effect.

Toxicity, mutagenicity and induction of recA protein in Escherichia coli treated with cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) and cis-diamminetetrachloroplatinum(IV)

After exposure of bacteria to equal concentrations of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (DDP) and cis-diamminetetrachloroplatinum(IV) (DTP), the intracellular concentration of DTP was an order of magnitude greater than DDP. However, at identical intracellular drug concentrations, the Pt(IV) compound formed only half as many platinum-DNA lesions. For equal numbers of DNA lesions, the toxicity of both agents was identical whereas the mutagenicity of DTP was 7 times less than for DDP and its capacity to induce recA protein was less than DDP by a factor of 3.5. Bioreduction of Pt(IV) compounds to their corresponding Pt(II) analogues has been proposed as a mechanism for the reaction of Pt(IV) compounds with cellular DNA. According to this hypothesis, DTP would be reduced to DDP in the cell prior to its reaction with DNA and the platinum-DNA lesions of the two compounds should be identical. Our results suggest that reductive elimination can not entirely account for DNA damage caused by PT(IV) compounds in bacteria.

Weigle reactivation and mutagenesis of bacteriophage lambda in lexA(Def) mutants of E. coli K12

The SOS response in UV-irradiated bacteria enhances the survival and mutagenesis of infecting damaged bacteriophage lambda. In a lexA(Def) strain, SOS bacterial genes are fully derepressed by an inactivating mutation in the LexA repressor gene. We tested several lexA(Def) derivative strains for their capacity to constitutively promote high survival and mutagenesis of irradiated lambda. We showed that UV irradiation of the lexA(Def) host bacteria is still necessary for optimal efficiency of both these SOS functions, which are dependent on the umuC gene product and an activated form of RecA protein.

Regulation of the SOS response analyzed by RecA protein amplification

A split UV light dose procedure was used in Escherichia coli to induce an SOS function, RecA protein amplification, which was measured by an immunoradiometric assay. The SOS system was partially induced after the first UV irradiation, and the inducing effects of subsequent identical UV doses were quantified. Variations in the inducing effects of successive UV doses were related to modulations of the SOS signal level during SOS induction. A reduction in the level of SOS signal was found after 20 min in the wild-type strain, hypothesized to result from negative control of repair functions. A few DNA repair mutants were tested by the same procedure; the uvrA, recF, and umuC genes were involved in SOS induction control, but we found differences in their respective kinetics of expression. On the contrary, in a recB mutant, only a slight effect was obtained on this control.

RECA immunological assay as a tool to analyze the SOS response

The content of RECA protein, one of the SOS genes product, was determined in a bacterial extract by a two site-radioimmunometric assay. The variation of the RECA concentration after induction by physical or chemical treatments was used as a probe to analyze the SOS response. Relationships between either the number or the nature of DNA lesions and the level of the relative amplification of RECA have been established. The modulation of the recA gene expression is discussed.

Measurement of in vivo expression of the recA gene of Escherichia coli by using lacZ gene fusions

A recA-lacZ protein fusion was constructed in vivo by using bacteriophage Mu dII301(Ap lac). The fusion contained the promoter and first 47 codons of the recA mutant, as determined by DNA sequence analysis. The fusion was cloned and used to construct a recA-lacZ operon fusion at the same site within the recA gene. These fusions were introduced into the Escherichia coli chromosome at the lambda attachment site either as complete or cryptic lambda prophages. Synthesis of beta-galactosidase from these fusions was inducible by UV radiation. As the UV dose was increased, induction became slower and persisted for a longer period of time. At low doses of UV radiation, more beta-galactosidase was produced in a uvrA mutant than in a wild-type strain; however, at high doses, no induced synthesis of beta-galactosidase occurred in a uvrA mutant. recA+ strains carrying either the protein or operon fusion on a multicopy plasmid showed reduced survival after UV irradiation. This UV sensitivity was not exhibited by strains containing a single copy of either fusion, however; hence, the fusions provide a reliable measure of recA expression.

Quantification of SSB protein in E. coli and its variation during RECA protein induction

Using a two-site immunometric assay (IRMA) we quantified the concentration of single-stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) in several E. coli strains. We found approximately 7,000 monomers of SSB present per bacterium, and this number remained constant throughout the exponential phase of growth. Two ssb- mutants (ssb-1 and ssb-113) are defective in the induction of the S.O.S. pathway. One of the first functions expressed upon induction of the S.O.S. pathway is the amplification of recA protein (RECA), which we monitored by an IRMA assay similar to the one used for SSB quantification. By combining the two assays we determined the level of SSB and RECA in ssb- mutants or in SSB and RECA overproducer strains. We found: a) a normal induction of RECA following UV irradiation of E. coli bacteria overproducing SSB, b) a normal level of SSB in wild type and ssb-1 and ssb-113 mutants either in the absence or in the presence of S.O.S. inducing agents. We confirmed a severe impairment in the induction of RECA in these two mutants after nalidixic acid treatment. Our results suggest that the concentrations of RECA and SSB protein in E. coli are regulated by independent biochemical pathways.

Signal of induction of recA protein in E. coli

The nature of the signal(s) responsible for the induction of the SOS functions in E. coli was investigated in dnaA and dnaC mutants, in which recA protein was induced by UV irradiation under conditions where no DNA replication could occur. This induction was dependent upon an active excision-repair system, since it was abolished in a dnaC uvrB double mutant at non-permissive temperature. In such a case, the addition of bleomycin, an agent known to produce single-strand breaks into DNA, was able to restore the induction of the recA protein.

Different levels of induction of RecA protein in E. coli (PQ 10) after treatment with two related carcinogens

By means of an immunoradiometric assay the induction of protein RecA in E. coli PQ 10 was measured after treatment by two related carcinogens. On an adduct basis N-Acetoxy-N-2-acetylaminofluorene was shown to induce the protein RecA at a similar level as U.V. On the other hand, N-hydroxy-N-2-aminofluorene shows only a poor induction capacity of the RecA protein. The difference in the SOS inducing potential of the aminofluorene and acetylaminofluorene adducts is discussed in relation to the major difference in the local conformational change the two adducts induce in DNA.

Lack of single-strand DNA-binding protein amplification under conditions of SOS induction in E. coli

A two site immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for quantification of the recA protein has been recently described (Paoletti et al. 1982). We have used a similar technique to monitor the possible amplification of the ssb protein in E. coli after induction of the SOS repair process by various DNA damaging agents. Under these conditions, while we have been able to detect a full amplification of recA protein, we failed to observed any amplification of the ssb protein.

Control of UV induction of recA protein

The basal level of recA protein in Escherichia coli K-12 was estimated by an immunoradiometric assay; it is approximately equal to 1,200 molecules per wild-type bacteria in midexponential phase of growth, slightly more in an excision-deficient (uvrA) strain, and markedly more in recF mutants. Kinetics of induction after UV irradiation showed a rapid increase of recA protein content, which reached a peak level after 60-90 min (20- to 55-fold amplification) and then decreased by dilution of the protein in the growing population. In order to obtain an identical extent of induction of recA protein, a 10-fold higher UV dose was necessary in a wild-type strain compared to the uvrA mutant strain. In the uvrA strain, the presence of one or only very few pyrimidine dimers on DNA was accompanied by a measurable increase of the constitutive level of recA protein; however, the unexcised dimers were unable to permanently induce the formation of recA protein. The derepressed promoter of recA gene is one of the strongest in E. coli. Its sequence displays many similarities with that of the strongest early promoters of T5 phage. Mutants (umuC uvrB and recF uvrB) unable to carry out W-reactivation produced high levels of recA protein after UV irradiation. The data suggested that the recF and umuC genes negatively control the regulation of recA protein level.

Cell survival, UV-reactivation and induction of prophage lambda in Escherichia coli K12 overproducing RecA protein

The effect of the cellular level of RecA protein on the ability of E. coli K12 bacteria to (i) survive UV-irradiation (ii) promote UV-reactivation of UV-damaged phage lambda (iii) induce prophage lambda was determined in bacterial mutants with discrete increasing levels of RecA protein. The various levels of RecA protein were obtained by combining lexA and recA alleles. Except for the double mutant lexA3 recAo98, whose repair ability was 25% less than that observed in wild type bacteria, bacterial survival was proportional to the level of RecA protein measured after 90 min of incubation. In lexA3 recAo98 bacteria, RecA protein, at a constitutive high basal level, failed to compensate totally for the lack of LexA repressor cleavage; UV-reactivation of UV-damaged phage lambda was not restored; yet, prophage lambda was induced with 35% efficiency. Efficient UV-induction of prophage lambda is linked to the induction of lexA-controlled host processes that repair the UV-damaged prophage.

Measurement of recA protein induction in Salmonella typhimurium: a possible biochemical test for the detection of DNA damaging agents

RecA protein was purified from S. typhimurium and its concentration was measured in crude extracts by an immunoradiometric assay. The dose-response relations and the kinetics of recA protein induction following treatment of the cells with ultra-violet light, nalidixic acid, mitomycin C, and cisplatin were studied in E. coli and S. typhimurium. The recA protein amplification was complete in a few hours and was stable for at least 3 hours. Dose-response curves showed a linear region for low doses of all the inducer agents tested. This direct relation between the recA protein level and the amount of inducer agent allows the quantification of the recA protein inducing potency of chemicals. The recA protein amplification was very sensitive to low doses of inducer agents: an UV dose of 0.25 J/M2, 500 ng of NAL or 50 ng of MMC induced a two-fold increase in cellular recA protein content. In addition, the measurement of RecA protein induction did not require the survival of the cells. These observations led us to suggest a new biochemical assay for detecting DNA damaging substances by the direct measurement of the recA protein level following treatment of the cells.