• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1994

Pseudomonas fluorescens Biovar III strains S-2 antagonistic to Rhizoctonia solani was subjected to Tn5 mutagenesis by the transposon vector pGS9. Ampicillin and kanamycin resistant (Ampr, Kmr) transconjugants were recovered at a frequency of 1.3$\times$10-7 per initial recipient cell, when recipient cells were washed twice in TE buffer before conjugation. Of the ca. 3000 transconjugants, a frequency of noninhibitory (Inh-), nonfluorescent (Flu-) and auxotorphic (Pro-) mutants were 0.27%, 0.47% and 0.40%, respectively. In these mutants, all Inh- mutants showed the same colony morphology as wild type, whereas all Flu- and Pro- mutants inhibited the growth of R. solani. These mutants were also susceptible to chloramphenicol, indicating only the Tn5 element, except for parts of pGS9, was integrated into the recipient genome. In a Southern blot analysis, the Tn5 element inserted into one site on the chromosome for each of the chosen mutants. However, Tn5 insertion sites of Inh-, and Pro- mutants were differed in each other. These indicate that the genes essential for R. solani inhibition, fluorescent production and auxotrophic are chromosomally located, but not linked to each other.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.304-311
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• 1995

To determine whether chitinolytic enzymes from Chromobacterium violaceum C-61 play an important role in the suppression of Rhizoctonia damping-off, Tn5 insertion mutants deficient in chitinolytic activity (Chi a- mutants) were selected and their chitinolytic and disease suppression were compared with those of the parental strain. Four Chi a- mutants selected from about 2,000 transconjugants did not inhibit mycelial growth of Rhizoctonia solani on nutrient agar-potato dextrose agar (BA-PDA) and their abilities to suppress Rhizoctonia damping-off were much lower than the parental strain. However, population density in the eggplant rhizosphere did not differ significantly between the parental strain and four Chi a- mutants. The crude enzyme of the parental strain inhibited growth of R. solani on NA-PDA and its chitinase activity was much higher than that of Chi a- mutants. But the N,N' -diacetylchitobiase activity between these isolates were not significantly different. The chitinase of Chi a- mutants was defective in 2 isoforms of 52- and 37-kDa among four isoforms of 54-, 52-, 50- and 37-kDa. A Tn5 element was inserted into one site of 10 kb EcoRI fragment of chromosomal DNA in three Chi- mutants, C61-C1, -C2, and -C3. In C61-C4 mutant, a Tn5 element was inserted into two sites of 10 kb and 4.4 kb EcoRI fragments. These results suggest that the chitinase of C. violaceum C-61 play an important role in the suppression of Rhizoctonia damping-off of cucumber and eggplant.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 1989

The bacteriophage Mu and transposon Tn5 containing plasmid pJB4JI-transferred transposon Tn5 to Caulobuter crescentus. When several thousand of transposon Tn5 insertion mutants were examined, we found auxotrophic and motility mutants at frequencies of 2％ and 3％, respectively. Transposition of transposon Tn5 was analyzed by the reverse field electrophoresis and Southern hybridization. The results indicated that transposon Tn5 was randomly inserted to Caulobuter crescentus chromosome but the plasmid vector, pJB4JI, was not maintained.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.333-339
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• 2000

To identify genes involved in the decolorization of crystal violet, we isolated random mutants generated by transponson insertion in crystal violet-declorizing bacterium, Citrobacter sp. The resulting mutant bank yielded mutants with six distinct phenotypes, and Southern hybridization with a Tn5 fragment as a probe showed a single hybridized with six distinct phenotypes, and Southern hybridization with a Tn5 fragment as a probe showed a single hybridized band in the mutants Ctg 2, 5 an 6, whereas two and three bands were detected in Ctg1, 4 and 3, respectively. Tn5-inserted genes were isolated and the DNA sequence flanking Tn5 was determined. From comparison with a sequence database, putative protein product encoded by ctg 5 was identified as E. coli maltose transproter(Mal G) homolog, whereas the deduced amino acid sequence of the other ctg genes did not show any significant similarity with any DNA or protein sequency. Therefore, these results indicate that the other ctg genes except ctg 5 encode new proteins responsible for decolorization of crystal violet.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.139-142
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• 2004

To identify genes involved in the decolorization of brilliant green, we isolated random mutants generated by transposon insertion in brilliant green-decolorizing bacterium, Citrobacter sp. The resulting mutant bank yielded 19 mutants with a complete defect in terms of the brilliant green color removing ability. Southern hybridization with a Tn5 fragment as a probe showed a single hybridized band in 7 mutants and these mutants appeared to have insertions at different sites of the chromosome. Tn5-inserted genes were isolated and the DNA sequence flanking Tn5 was determined. By comparing these with a sequence database, putative protein products encoded by bg genes were identified as follows: bg 3 as a LysR-type regulatory protein; bg 11 as a MalG protein in the maltose transport system; bg 14 as an oxidoreductase; and bg 17 as an ABC transporter. The sequences deduced from the three bg genes, bg 2, bg 7 and bg 16, showed no significant similarity to any protein with a known function, suggesting that these three bg genes may encode unidentified proteins responsible for the decolorization of brilliant green.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-228
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• 2009

Mobile genetic segments, or transposons, are also referred to as jumping genes as they can shift from one position in the genome to another, thus inducing a chromosomal mutation. According to the target site-specificity of the transposon during a transposition event, the result is either the insertion of a gene of interest at a specific chromosomal site, or the creation of knockout mutants. The former situation includes the integration of conjugative transposons via site-specific recombination, several transposons preferring a target site of a conserved AT-rich sequence, and Tn7 being site-specifically inserted at attTn7, the downstream of the essential glmS gene. The latter situation is exploited for random mutagenesis in many prokaryotes, including IS (insertion sequence) elements, mariner, Mu, Tn3 derivatives (Tn4430 and Tn917), Tn5, modified Tn7, Tn10, Tn552, and Ty1, enabling a variety of genetic manipulations. Randomly inserted transposons have been previously employed for a variety of applications such as genetic footprinting, gene transcriptional and translational fusion, signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM), DNA or cDNA sequencing, transposon site hybridization (TraSH), and scanning linker mutagenesis (SLM). Therefore, transposon-mediated genetic engineering is a valuable discipline for the study of bacterial physiology and pathogenesis in living hosts.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 2005

A chitinolytic bacterium, Chromobacterium sp. strain C-61, was found strongly antagonistic to Rhizoctonia solani, a causal agent of damping-off of eggplant. In this study, the biocontrol activity and enzymatic characteristics of strain C-61 were compared with its four Tn5 insertion mutants (C61-A, -B, -C, and -D) that had lower chitinolytic ability. The chitinase activity of a 2-day old culture was about $76\%,\;49\%\;and\;6\%$ level in C61-A, C61-B and in C61-C, respectively, compared with that of strain C-61. The $\beta-N-acetylhexosaminidase$(Nahase) activity was little detected in strain C-61 but increased largely in C-61A, C61-B and C61-C. Activities of chitinase and Nahase appeared to be negatively correlated in these strains. Another mutant, C-61D, produced no detectable extracellular chitinase and Nahase. The in vitro and in vivo biocontrol activities of strain C-61 and its mutants were closely related to their ability to produce chitinase but not Nahase. No significant differences in population densities between strain C-61 and its mutants were observed in soil around eggplant roots. The results of SDS-PAGE and isoelectrofocusing showed that a major chitinase of strain C-61 is 54-kDa with pI of approximately 8.5. This study provides evidence that the biocontrol activity of Chromobacterium sp. strain C-61 against Rhizoctonia solani depends on the ability to produce chitinase with molecular weight of 54-kDa and pI of 8.5.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.229-233
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• 2004

The bacterial leaf blight, which is caused by Xantho-monas oryzae pv. oryzae, is the most damaging and intractable disease of rice. To identify the genes involved in the virulence mechanism of transposon TnS complex, which possesses a linearized transposon and transposase, was successfully introduced into X. oryzae pv. oryzae by electroporation. The transposon mutants were selected and confirm the presence of transposition in X. oryzae pv. oryzae by the PCR amplification of transposon fragments and the Southern hybridization using these mutants. Furthermore, transposon insertion sites in the mutant bacterial chromosome were deter-mined by direct genomic DNA sequencing using transposon-specific primers with ABI 3100 Genetic Analyzer. Efficiency of transposition was influenced mostly by the competence status of X. oryzae pv. oryzae cells and the conditions of electroporation. These results indicated that the insertion mutagenesis strategy could be applied to define function of uncharacterized genes in X. oryzae pv. oryzae.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.417-429
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• 2023

Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is a soil borne plant pathogen causing bacterial wilt on various important crops, including Solanaceae plants. The bacterial pathogens within the RSSC produce exopolysaccharide (EPS), a highly complicated nitrogencontaining heteropolymeric polysaccharide, as a major virulence factor. However, the biosynthetic pathway of the EPS in the RSSC has not been fully characterized. To identify genes in EPS production beyond the EPS biosynthetic gene operon, we selected the EPS-defective mutants of R. pseudosolanacearum strain SL341 from Tn5-inserted mutant pool. Among several EPSdefective mutants, we identified a mutant, SL341P4, with a Tn5-insertion in a gene encoding a putative NDP-sugar epimerase, a putative membrane protein with sugar-modifying moiety, in a reverse orientation to EPS biosynthesis gene cluster. This protein showed similar to other NDP-sugar epimerases involved in EPS biosynthesis in many phytopathogens. Mutation of the NDP-sugar epimerase gene reduced EPS production and biofilm formation in R. pseudosolanacearum. Additionally, the SL341P4 mutant exhibited reduced disease severity and incidence of bacterial wilt in tomato plants compared to the wild-type SL341 without alteration of bacterial multiplication. These results indicate that the NDP-sugar epimerase gene is required for EPS production and bacterial virulence in R. pseudosolanacearum.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2004

To identify genes involved in the decolorization of both crystal violet and malachite green, we isolated random mutants generated by transposon insertion in triphenylmethane-decolorizing bacterium, Citrobacter sp. The resulting mutant bank yielded 14 mutants with complete defect in color removal capability of both crystal violet and malachite green. Southern hybridization with a Tn5 fragment as a probe showed a single hybridized band in 5 mutants and these mutants appeared to have insertions at different sites of the chromosome. Tn5-inserted genes were isolated and the DNA sequence flanking Tn5 was determined. From comparison with a sequence database, putative protein products encoded by cmg genes were identified as follows. cmg 2 is MaIC protein in maltose transport system; cmg 6 is transcriptional regulator (LysR-type): cmg 12 is a putative oxidoreductase. The sequences deduced from two cmg genes, cmg 8 and cmg 11, showed no significant similarity to any protein with a known function. Therefore, these results indicate that these two cmg genes encode unidentified proteins responsible for decolorization of both crystal violet and malachite green.