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Query: EC:3.2.1.31 (
beta-glucuronidase
)
7,680
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Expression of the RNA replicase domain of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and certain protein-coding regions in other plant viruses, is mediated by translational readthrough of a leaky UAG stop codon. It has been proposed that normal tobacco tyrosine tRNAs are able to read the UAG codon of TMV by non-conventional base-pairing but recent findings that stop codons can also be bypassed as a result of extended translocational shifts (
tRNA
hopping) have encouraged a re-examination. In light of the alternatives, we investigated the sequences flanking the leaky UAG codon using an in vivo assay in which bypass of the stop codon is coupled to the transient expression of
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) reporter genes in tobacco protoplasts. Analysis of GUS constructions in which codons flanking the stop were altered allowed definition of the minimal sequence required for read through as UAG-CAA-UUA. The effects of all possible single-base mutations in the codons flanking the stop indicated that 3' contexts of the form CAR-YYA confer leakiness and that the 3' context permits read through of UAA and UGA stop codons as well as UAG. Our studies demonstrate a major role for the 3' context in the read through process and do not support a model in which teh UAG is bypassed exclusively as a result of anticodon-codon interactions. No evidence for
tRNA
hopping was obtained. The 3' context apparently represents a unique sequence element that affects translation termination.
...
PMID:The signal for a leaky UAG stop codon in several plant viruses includes the two downstream codons. 201 Sep 14
Bacterial
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) has been described as a useful reporter enzyme for gene fusion studies in bacteria and plants. Here we report the expression of GUS in yeast to illustrate further applications of this enzyme as a quantitative tool for measuring gene activity, as a colour selection marker and as a versatile system for protein targeting studies. There is no intrinsic GUS activity in any yeast strain tested. GUS was expressed in transgenic yeast on a multiple-copy vector under the control of the alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (ADH1) promoter. The enzyme is stable in yeast and its activity may be monitored by very sensitive colorimetric or fluorometric methods in extracts, or by the histochemical reagent 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylglucuronide (X-Gluc) on plates. To test the efficacy of GUS as a reporter for targeting proteins into different subcellular compartments in vivo, we fused the presequence of the mitochondrial tryptophanyl-
tRNA
-synthetase gene (MSW) to the amino terminus of GUS. The activity of the fusion protein is not substantially impaired and it is imported efficiently into yeast mitochondria.
...
PMID:Application of the beta-glucuronidase gene fusion system to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 218 24
To date, the presequence of the mitochondrial beta-subunit of ATPase from tobacco is the only signal sequence that has been shown to target a foreign protein into plant mitochondria in vivo. Here we report that the presequence of a yeast mitochondrial protein directs bacterial
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) specifically into the mitochondrial compartment of transgenic tobacco plants. Fusions between the presequence of the mitochondrial tryptophanyl-
tRNA
-synthetase gene from yeast and the GUS gene have been introduced into tobacco plants and yeast cells. In both systems, proteins containing the complete yeast mitochondrial presequence are efficiently imported in the mitochondria. Measurements of GUS activity in different subcellular fractions indicate that there is no substantial misrouting of the chimeric proteins in plant cells. In vitro synthesized GUS fusion proteins have a higher molecular weight than those found inside yeast and tobacco mitochondria, suggesting a processing of the precursors during import. Interestingly, fusion proteins translocated across the mitochondrial membranes of tobacco have the same size as those that are imported into yeast mitochondria. We conclude that the processing enzyme in plant mitochondria may recognize a proximate or even the same cleavage site within the mitochondrial tryptophanyl-
tRNA
-synthetase presequence as the matrix protease from yeast.
...
PMID:A yeast mitochondrial presequence functions as a signal for targeting to plant mitochondria in vivo. 253 95
Alanine and phenylalanine
tRNA
sequences were amplified by PCR from Arabidopsis thaliana nuclear DNA using degenerate oligonucleotides which introduced specific mutations into the acceptor stem. The aminoacylation of T7 RNA polymerase transcripts of these sequences was investigated in vitro using partially purified bean alanyl- or phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase. In parallel, the in vivo activity of amber suppressor derivatives of these tRNAs was investigated in transient expression assays in tobacco protoplasts using a
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) reporter gene containing a premature amber stop codon. The results show that mutation of the G3:U70 base pair to G3:C70 blocks aminoacylation of plant alanine
tRNA
, whilst conversion of the G3:C70 pair normally found in plant
tRNA
(Phe) to G3:U70 enables the mutated
tRNA
(Phe) to be a good substrate for alanyl-tRNA synthetase and impairs its aminoacylation with phenylalanine. In addition, the amber suppressor derivative of wild-type
tRNA
(Phe) showed very little suppressor activity in vivo, and was poorly aminoacylated with phenylalanine in vitro, suggesting that the anticodon is a major identity determinant for
tRNA
(Phe) in plant cells.
...
PMID:Characterization of some major identity elements in plant alanine and phenylalanine transfer RNAs. 753 29
We have developed a simple, rapid and sensitive assay for
tRNA
gene expression in plant cells. A plant
tRNA
(Leu) gene was site-specifically mutated to encode each of the three anticodon sequences (CUA, UUA and UCA) that recognize, respectively, the amber, ochre and opal stop codons. The suppression activity of these genes was detected by their ability to restore transient
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) expression in tobacco protoplasts electroporated with GUS genes containing premature stop codons. Protoplasts co-electroporated with the amber suppressor
tRNA
gene and a GUS gene containing a premature amber stop codon showed up to 20-25% of the activity found in protoplasts transfected with the functional control GUS gene. Ochre and opal suppressors presented maximum efficiencies of less than 1%. This system could be adapted to examine transcription, processing or aminoacylation of tRNAs in plant cells. In addition, phenotypically normal, fertile tobacco plants expressing a stably incorporated amber suppressor
tRNA
gene have been obtained. This suppressor
tRNA
can be used to transactivate a target gene containing a premature amber stop codon by a factor of at least several hundred-fold.
...
PMID:Transfer RNA-mediated suppression of stop codons in protoplasts and transgenic plants. 834 3
The abundance of tRNAs, together with their central role in translation, has generated considerable interest in the use of
tRNA
genes for biotechnological applications. One such application is the use of suppressor tRNAs to transactive target genes containing premature stop codons. Previous work has shown that such systems can work in transient expression experiments in plant protoplasts; here these experiments are extended to show that suppression of stop codons can occur in whole plants. Transgenic tobacco plants homozygous for a modified
tRNA
(Leu) gene expressing a strong amber suppressor
tRNA
, and plants carrying a
beta-glucuronidase
(gus) gene inactivated by a premature amber stop codon have been obtained. When the two types of plants are crossed, many of the F1 hybrids show significant GUS activity. The GUS activity is dependent on the presence of both the suppressor
tRNA
gene and the gus gene. Tobacco plants carrying the suppressor
tRNA
gene are phenotypically normal, fertile and the gene shows normal Menedelian inheritance. The potential applications of such a system are discussed.
...
PMID:Transactivation of a target gene using a suppressor tRNA in transgenic tobacco plants. 910 45
Promoter-active fragments of Synechococcus PCC7942 were isolated by transcriptional gene fusion to the promoterless
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) gene of E. coli, which was used as a reporter gene. Several of the isolated promoter-active fragments expressed GUS activity in Synechococcus comparable to that of the lambdaPR promoter. Only 10% of the isolated promoter-active fragments also functioned in E. coli. The transcription initiation sites of the two promoter-active fragments, D13 and E3, were identified. The major transcription initiation sites of D13 and E3 in Synechococcus were located within the nucleotides TTTG and TTG respectively, which were identical to those corresponding to E. coli. The inferred -10 and -35 regions of D13 were TAAACT and TTGTAG respectively, which conformed to the E. coli sigma70 promoter. Immediately upstream of the E3 transcription initiation sites was the tRNApro (GGG) gene, which contained two regions exhibiting strong homology to the major promoter elements in eukaryotic
tRNA
genes, but did not contain the E. coli promoter element. Thus, the tRNApro gene can act as a promoter.
...
PMID:Isolation and characterization of Synechococcus PCC7942 promoters: tRNApro gene functions as a promoter. 1006 56
The 2A region of the aphthovirus foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) polyprotein is only 18 aa long. A 'primary' intramolecular polyprotein processing event mediated by 2A occurs at its own C terminus. FMDV 2A activity was studied in artificial polyproteins in which sequences encoding reporter proteins flanked the 2A sequence such that a single, long, open reading frame was created. The self-processing properties of these artificial polyproteins were investigated and the co-translational 'cleavage' products quantified. The processing products from our artificial polyprotein systems showed a molar excess of 'cleavage' product N-terminal of 2A over the product C-terminal of 2A. A series of experiments was performed to characterize our in vitro translation systems. These experiments eliminated the translational or transcriptional properties of the in vitro systems as an explanation for this imbalance. In addition, the processing products derived from a control construct encoding the P1P2 region of the human rhinovirus polyprotein, known to be proteolytically processed, were quantified and found to be equimolar. Translation of a construct encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP), FMDV 2A and
beta-glucuronidase
, also in a single open reading frame, in the presence of puromycin, showed this antibiotic to be preferentially incorporated into the [GFP2A] translation product. We conclude that the discrete translation products from our artificial polyproteins are not produced by proteolysis. We propose that the FMDV 2A sequence, rather than representing a proteolytic element, modifies the activity of the ribosome to promote hydrolysis of the peptidyl(2A)-
tRNA
(Gly) ester linkage, thereby releasing the polypeptide from the translational complex, in a manner that allows the synthesis of a discrete downstream translation product to proceed. This process produces a ribosomal 'skip' from one codon to the next without the formation of a peptide bond.
...
PMID:Analysis of the aphthovirus 2A/2B polyprotein 'cleavage' mechanism indicates not a proteolytic reaction, but a novel translational effect: a putative ribosomal 'skip'. 1129 76
Bacterial strains isolated from a large variety of necropsy samples of pigs and previously described as a phenotypical homogeneous group were shown to belong to the species Actinomyces hyovaginalis. This was unexpected because their colonial characteristics, as well as their origins, were very different from those originally reported for the vaginal strains on which the species description of A. hyovaginalis was based. Colonial morphology, as well as fermentation of cellobiose, reactions in hippurate and nitrate and production of
beta-glucuronidase
, allowed separation of the strains studied here from the vaginal strains. Analysis of
tRNA
intergenic length polymorphisms (tDNA-PCR), 16S rRNA-gene sequencing and DNA-DNA hybridizations were carried out and led to the proposal of a separate biotype within the species A. hyovaginalis. Since, the strains were isolated from different body sites, this biotype has been designated as the 'general' biotype of A. hyovaginalis, while the strains on which the original species description was based are designated as the 'vaginal' biotype.
...
PMID:Identification of a new biotype of Actinomyces hyovaginalis in tissues of pigs during diagnostic bacteriological examination. 1173 Nov 62
The E3 strong promoter-active fragment harbors the
tRNA
(pro) (GGG) gene upstream of the promoterless
beta-glucuronidase
(GUS) reporter gene in plasmid pKG-E3. The 74-bp
tRNA
(pro) coding sequence contains two regions exhibiting strong homology to blocks A and B which are the split promoter elements of eukaryotic
tRNA
genes. Results in this study showed that the promoter region of
tRNA
(pro) gene located upstream of its coding sequence and harbored the putative -10 (TACATT) and -35 (TTGGCA) regions which conformed to the Escherichia coli sigma(70) promoter. Differentiation of the 5' end of
tRNA
(pro)-GUS transcripts of pKG-E3 revealed that the true transcription initiation sites were located at positions -3, -4, and -6, while the processed sites were located at position +75, +76 and +78 with respect to the first nucleotide of the
tRNA
(pro) coding sequence. The presence of block A decreased GUS activity about three-fold, whereas block B and the 3' end of
tRNA
(pro) gene completely abolished GUS expression. However, the presence of full-length
tRNA
(pro) gene did not affect the GUS expression. Downstream of the
tRNA
(pro) coding sequence in chromosomal DNA contained a 32-bp stem-loop structure with a predicted DeltaG value of -21.7 kcal x mol(-1). The absence of this stem-loop structure downstream of the
tRNA
(pro) coding sequence in pKG-E3 resulted in read-through transcription into the adjoining GUS gene.
...
PMID:Characterization of regions of the cyanobacterial tRNA(pro) gene that affect the expression of a beta-glucuronidase reporter gene. 1205 51
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