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Mechanism for induction of adaptive mutations in Escherichia coli
Author(s) -
Boe L.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1990.tb00628.x
Subject(s) - proofreading , biology , heteroduplex , dna , escherichia coli , genetics , dna replication , mutation , dna synthesis , circular bacterial chromosome , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , dna polymerase
Summary When bacterial cells are subjected to a strong selective pressure it often induces specific mutations. Here a model is considered in which errors are introduced at random in one of the strands of the DNA molecule: a nick in one of the strands can initiate strand displacement rendering a region of the chromosome single‐stranded. Upon conversion back to double‐stranded DNA there is a certain probability of introducing errors creating a heteroduplex. If an error results in the production of an mRNA molecule encoding a product which provides a selective advantage, growth will be stimulated and the mutation can be immortalized by chromosomal replication. Otherwise, the error can be corrected by the DNA ‘proofreading’ enzymes.