Abstract:
The presence of more than one copy of rRNA operons in phototrophic cyanobacterium
Synechococcus PCC7942 and thermophlic bacterium Thermus thermophilus has been an
obstacle to analyzing mutated rRNA. In this thesis, in vivo systems for analyzing
homogeneous mutated rRNA in Synechococcus and T. thermophilus were developed.
Synechococcus has a multicopy chromosome, with each copy containing two rRNA
operons (rrnA and rrnB), each operon harbors [16S rRNA-tRNAIle-tRNAAla-23S rRNA-5S
rRNA] genes. The chromosomal rrn operons of Synechococcus were sequentially inactivated
using deletion-insertion mutagenesis; a final strain was obtained with all the chromosomal
rrn operons inactivated but carrying a replaceable multicopy plasmid encoding a single rrn
operon. The lag time required for initiating cell growth after dark/light shift of mutant strains
with rrnA or rrnB inactivated was increased 50% over that of the wild-type strain. The
doubling time of strains with inactivated rrnA operon, but not strains with inactivated rrnB
operon, were significantly longer than that of the wild-type strain. Plasmids containing a
mutation at position 2588 of 23S rRNA were transferred into the strain with all the
chromosomal rrn operons inactivated to replace the plasmid containing wild-type rrn operon.
The results revealed that a strain in which all the cellular 23S rRNA contained the mutation
C2588A was temperature sensitive at 16 °C and 45 °C. However, attempts to select for
strains with all cellular 23S rRNA containing C2588G/T mutations were unsuccessful. Thus,
the C2588G/T mutations may be lethal to the cells. Position C2588 is equivalent to C2611 of
the peptidyltransferase centre in domain V of Escherichia coli 23S rRNA.
T. Thermophilus has one chromosome with two copies of rRNA operons (copy A and
copy B), each containing [23S rRNA-5S rRNA-tRNAGly] genes. The T. Thermophilus strain
with copy B operon inactivated was constructed using deletion-insertion mutagenesis. The
resulting strain, harboring only one functional copy A, was used to isolate spontaneous
mutants resistant to Capreomycin antibiotic. Analysis of chromosomal DNA of these mutants
using genetic-recombination mapping and DNA sequencing revealed that each mutation of
23S rRNA, at positions: A1913T, T1915G or ΔT1915 is responsible for Capreomycin
resistance phenotype. These three mutations also conferred cross resistance to Viomycin and
some aminoglycoside antibiotics. The A1913 and T1915 located at helix 69 of 23S rRNA,
which is involved in association between 30S and 50S ribosome subunits.
The in vivo systems for expressing homogeneous mutated rRNA in Synechococcus and
T. thermophilus described in this thesis, provide potential to study rRNA structure-function
relationships in phototrophs and thermophiles