Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 3, 389-402, Copyright © 1986 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
BG Hall, PW Betts and M Kricker
The genes for cellobiose utilization are normally cryptic in Escherichia
coli. The cellobiose system was used as a model to understand the process
by which silent genes are maintained in microbial populations. Previously
reported was (1) the isolation of a mutant strain that expresses the
cellobiose-utilization (Cel) genes and (2) that expression of those genes
allows utilization of three beta- glucoside sugars: cellobiose, arbutin,
and salicin. The Cel gene cluster has now been cloned from that mutant
strain. In the course of locating the Cel genes within the cloned DNA
segment, it was discovered that inactivation of the Cel-encoded hydrolase
rendered the host strain sensitive to all three beta-glucosides as potent
inhibitors. This sensitivity arises from the accumulation of the
phosphorylated beta- glucosides. Because even the fully active genes
conferred some degree of beta-glucoside sensitivity, the effects of
cellobiose on a series of five Cel+ mutants of independent origin were
investigated. Although each of those strains utilizes cellobiose as a sole
carbon and energy source, cellobiose also acts as a potent inhibitor that
reduces the growth rate on glycerol 2.5-16.5-fold. On the other hand,
wild-type strains that cannot utilize cellobiose are not inhibited. The
observation that the same compound can serve either as a nutrient or as an
inhibitor suggests that, under most conditions in which cellobiose will be
present together with other resources, there is a strong selective
advantage to having the cryptic (Cel0) allele. In those environments in
which cellobiose is the sole, or the best, resource, mutants that express
the genes (Cel+) will have a strong selective advantage. It is suggested
that temporal alternation between these two conditions is a major factor in
the maintenance of these genes in E. coli populations. This alternation of
environments and fitnesses was predicted by the model for cryptic-gene
maintenance that was previously published.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Maintenance of the cellobiose utilization genes of Escherichia coli in a cryptic state
Molecular and Cell Biology Department, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06268.
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