Transposition of bacteriophage Mu in the Legionnaires disease bacterium.

Cloning of the A gene of bacteriophage Mu and purification of its product, the Mu transposase.

The bacteriophage Mu transposase (the Mu A gene product), which is absolutely required for both integration of Mu and replicative transposition during the lytic cycle, has been overproduced by cloning the gene on a plasmid under the control of the phage lambda PL promoter. The protein has been purified to near homogeneity from the lysate of heat-induced cells of a strain carrying the plasmid. T...

Efficient insertion mutagenesis strategy for bacterial genomes involving electroporation of in vitro-assembled DNA transposition complexes of bacteriophage mu.

An efficient insertion mutagenesis strategy for bacterial genomes based on the phage Mu DNA transposition reaction was developed. Incubation of MuA transposase protein with artificial mini-Mu transposon DNA in the absence of divalent cations in vitro resulted in stable but inactive Mu DNA transposition complexes, or transpososomes. Following delivery into bacterial cells by electroporation, the...

Molecular Model for the Transposition and Replication of Bacteriophage Mu and other

A series of molecular events will explain how genetic elements can transpose from one DNA site to another, generate a short oligonucleotide duplication at both ends of the new insertion site, and replicate in the transposition process. These events include the formation of recombinant molecules which have been postulated to be intermediates in the transposition process. The model explains how t...

The Mechanisms, Applications, and Target Site Selection of Bacteriophage Mu Minimal in Vitro Dna Transposition Reaction

Switch in the transposition products of Mu DNA mediated by proteins: Cointegrates versus simple insertions.

Bacteriophage Mu is a self-contained mobile unit encoding functions that mediate its movement. There appear to be two alternate pathways for Mu DNA transposition that differ with respect to the end products they generate. During the lytic cycle of phage Mu growth the end products of transposition are predominantly cointegrates in an experimental system in which the induced Mu prophage is locate...