exam 2 (ch 14,15,16) Flashcards
(95 cards)
site specific recombination
- limited to specific sequences
- recombinase enzyme cuts them
- 20-200 bp recognition site (inverted repeats, unique core sequence, which are directional)
transposon vs retrotransposons
transposons: cut and paste ; replicate DNA
replicative: movement with duplication
cut and paste: movement without duplication
Retrotransposons: RNA intermediate
what determines the outcome of site recombination?
the orientation of unique core sequence
opposite vs same orientation of site specific recomb
opposite: inversion (flip; messes up the junction; can use this to turn genes on/off no matter how far away as long as can form the hairpin structure at some point)
same: deletion or insertion (usefull to remove or add a gene)
loxP
- recognition site
- location of crossover for P1 element
- 34 bp sequence made of 2 palindromic recognition sites separated by 8bp spacer that gives directionality to the sequence
recombinases
- act like restriction enzymes + DNA ligase (cut and rejoin)
- do not require ATP because phosphodiester bond energy is conserved in a DNA protein bond
- Tyr active site: cut one pair of strands at a time which produce HOlliday intermediate
- Ser active site: cut both pairs at same time, so no Holliday intermediate, but same overall result
phase shift
- to evade immune system
- Hin recombinase inverts promoter segment approx every 1000 generations
- in one orientation: FljB flagellin
- in other orientation FljC flagellin
Cre
Causes recombination –> cyclisation recombinase
only recombine 2 lox sites if they have the same spacer sequence
creates site-specific recomb
cells use for flagella
what happens when both loxP are oriented in opposite orientation?
recombination results in gene inversion
reversible
continual flipping means it’s not very useful for genetic manipulation
how do transposons vary in complexity?
1. insertion sequence: don’t carry foreign genes; inverted and transposase repeats
2. composite transposons (Tn5): can carry antibiotic resistance
3. complex transposons (Mu): can carry antibiotic resistant genes
what percentage of DNA is transposons?
50%
why are transposons referred to as selfish DNA?
can exist without any benefit to the host cell, very difficult to eliminate since they can replicate
control of tranposition
- excessive transposition can kill host
- production of inhibitor protein or short inhibitory RNA (RNAi) which accumulates and stops further transposition
what would happen if transposon copy number dropped?
inhibitor level falls –> limited (nonlethal) transposition until inhibitor levels increase
retrotransposons definition and examples
transpose via RNA intermediate copied into DNA by RT
human long interspersed elements (LINES): 1-6.5kb
human short intersperse elements (SINES): 150-500 bp
human LTR retrotransposons: 6-9 kb
LTR retrotransposons
- form virus-like-particles (VLP) which cannot leave the cell
- 8% of genome
- (like retro virus but never leave the cell)
- do NOT encode ENV envelope protein
what do retroviral infection require?
2 receptors: CD4, chemokine
retroviral infection examples
HIV, Covid, mouse sarcoma virus
what do some people with altered chemokine receptors have?
partial resistance to HIV
challenges in retroviral infection
1) promoter region is NOT transcribed into mRNA by RNA pol2 (when you transcribe a gene, dont transcribe the promoter)
2) one mRNA –> 3 types of proteins
pseudoknot controls reading frames, which produce RT
lower amounts of RT are needed than coat protein
retroviral infection proteins
gag: virion proteins
pol: reverse transcriptase, integrase
env: envelope proteins
Gag and pol region of mRNA removed by alt splicing to produce envelope proteins
insert genome longer than virus
RT error facts
- slow and error prone
- 4 hrs to copy 9 kb genome (0.6 bp/sec)
- 1 error per 10^4 -10^6 bases
- up to 1 mistake every time genome is copied
- DNA pol is about 100x better (error rate of 10^6 - 10^8)
speed of:
human DNA pol
E. coli DNA pol 3
RT
DNA pol: 50 bp/sec
DNA pol 3: 1000 bp/sec
RT: 0.6 bp/ sec (4 hours to copy the 9kb genome)
retroviral vectors
can infect but cant form viable virus particules