The transcription elongation factor NusA is required for stress-induced mutagenesis in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Stress-induced mutagenesis describes the accumulation of mutations that occur in nongrowing cells, in contrast to mutagenesis that occurs in actively dividing populations, and has been referred to as stationary-phase or adaptive mutagenesis. The most widely studied system for stress-induced mutagenesis involves monitoring the appearance of Lac(+) revertants of the strain FC40 under starvation conditions in Escherichia coli. The SOS-inducible translesion DNA polymerase DinB plays an important role in this phenomenon. Loss of DinB (DNA pol IV) function results in a severe reduction of Lac(+) revertants. We previously reported that NusA, an essential component of elongating RNA polymerases, interacts with DinB. Here we report our unexpected observation that wild-type NusA function is required

SUBMITTER: Cohen SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2822047 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature