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Phenotypic and Genetic Characterization of the Escherichia coli Protein YbjN in Response to Ionizing Radiation
Author(s) -
Menhart Mary,
Bruckbauer Steven T.,
Cox Michael M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.789.2
Subject(s) - dna damage , gene , dna repair , mutagenesis , biology , transposon mutagenesis , sos response , reactive oxygen species , phenotype , dna , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , mutant , heat shock , mutation , escherichia coli , function (biology) , transposable element , heat shock protein
Ionizing radiation (IR) causes a wide variety of damage to cells, including DNA double stranded breaks (DSBs) and the creation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS created by IR cause damage to all cellular components which may ultimately result in cell death. To elucidate the mechanisms by which some bacterial species survive extreme DNA damage from IR, IR resistant E. coli were generated through directed evolution. A single isolate from the resulting populations was subjected to random transposon mutagenesis and screened for genes important for IR resistance. Of the 46 genes identified 7 are of unknown function, one of which being ybjN. Overexpression of YbjN has been observed to suppress growth rate, motility, biofilm formation, and metabolic pathways with an up‐regulation of stress‐related genes including cold shock and the SOS response. YbjN is expressed highly in E. coli under stress conditions, such as IR exposure and highly alkaline conditions. This data suggests that the YbjN protein may induce a dormant state which would allow the cell more time to repair DNA or other damage caused by ROS. In work to be completed soon, the effects of ybjN gene loss or modification on ROS damage and DNA DSB damage will be examined separately. We will determine whether ybjN has a specific involvement with either. The function of the ybjN gene is important for cell survival against IR. An elucidation of its function will enable a greater understanding of how cells recover from this extreme stress.