University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Role of the core in CTnDOT integration

Laprise, Jennifer

Content Files
LAPRISE_JENNIFER.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/34474

Description

Title
Role of the core in CTnDOT integration
Author(s)
Laprise, Jennifer
Issue Date
2012-09-18T21:18:54Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Gardner, Jeffrey F.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Gardner, Jeffrey F.
Committee Member(s)
  • Slauch, James M.
  • Kuzminov, Andrei
  • Tapping, Richard I.
Department of Study
Microbiology
Discipline
Microbiology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2012-09-18T21:18:54Z
Keyword(s)
  • Tyrosine recombinase
  • CTnDOT
  • Integration
  • Conjugative transposon
Abstract
IntDOT is the tyrosine recombinase encoded by the Bacteroides conjugative transposon CTnDOT. It catalyzes integration and excision into and out of the bacterial host chromosome. Although it is a member of the well studied tyrosine recombinase family, IntDOT is of particular interest because it can catalyze recombination between substrates containing heterology in the overlap region. This tolerance for heterology suggests that IntDOT uses a different mechanism for recombination. IntDOT performs initial cleavage on the top strand adjacent to the D and B core sites. The first two bases within the overlap region are a conserved GC dinucleotide that provide the only sequence identity between the two substrates. I used complementary DNA oligonucleotides to invert the overlap region 180 degrees to relocate the GC dinucleotide to the bottom strand adjacent to the B’ core site of attB. I tested the inverted overlap attB site in an in vitro integration assay with wild-type attDOT and showed that integration still occurs, albeit in the opposite orientation relative to the wild type reaction. I used nicked attB substrates to show that initial cleavage of the inverted overlap attB substrate takes place on the bottom strand adjacent to the B’ core site, suggesting that the location of sequence identity within the overlap determines the site of initial cleavage. I confirmed this hypothesis by using an attB site containing a symmetric overlap sequence.
Graduation Semester
2012-08
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34474
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2012 Jennifer Laprise

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Microbiology