Bacterial Genetics

BACTERIAL GENETICS Genetics is the study of genes including the structure of genetic materials, what information is stored in the genes, how the genes are expressed and how the genetic information is transferred. Genetics is also the study of heredity and variation. The arrangement of genes within organisms is its genotype and the physical characteristics an organism based on its genotype and the interaction with its environment, make up its phenotype. The order of DNA bases constitutes the bacterium's genotype. A particular organism may possess alternate forms of some genes. Such alternate forms of genes are referred to as alleles. The cell's genome is stored in chromosomes, which are chains of double stranded DNA. Genes are sequences of nucleotides within DNA that code for functional proteins. The genetic material of bacteria and plasmids is DNA. The two essential functions of genetic material are replication and expression. Structure of DNA The DNA molecule is composed of two chains of nucleotides wound around each other in the form of “double helix”. Double-stranded DNA is helical, and the two strands in the helix are antiparallel. The backbone of each strand comprises of repeating units of deoxyribose and phosphate residue. Attached to the deoxyribose is purine (AG) or pyrimidine (CT) base. Nucleic acids are large polymers consisting of repeating nucleotide units. Each nucleotide contains one phosphate group, one deoxyribose sugar, and one purine or pyrimidine base. In DNA the sugar is deoxyribose; in RNA the sugar is ribose. The double helix is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between purine and pyrimidine bases on the opposite strands. A on one strand pairs by two hydrogen bonds with T on the opposite strand, or G pairs by three hydrogen bonds with C. The two strands of double-helical DNA are, therefore complementary. Because of complementarity, double-stranded DNA contains equimolar amounts of purines (A + G) and pyrimidines (T + C), with A equal to T and G equal to C, but the mole fraction of G + C in DNA varies widely among different bacteria. One of the differences between DNA and RNA is that RNA contains uracil instead of the base thymine. Structure of chromosome In contrast to the linear chromosomes found in eukaryotic cells, most bacteria have single, covalently closed, circular chromosomes. Not all bacteria have a single circular chromosome: some bacteria have multiple circular chromosomes, and many bacteria have linear chromosomes and linear plasmids. Multiple chromosomes have also been found in many other bacteria, including Brucella, Leptospira interrogans, Burkholderia and Vibrio cholerae. Borrelia and Streptomyces have linear chromosomes and most strains contain both linear and circular plasmids. The chromosome of E coli has a length of approximately 1.35 mm, several hundred times longer than the bacterial cell, but the circular DNA is then looped and supercoiled to allow the chromosome to fit into the small space inside the cell. Codon A set of three base pairs constitutes a codon, which codes for a single amino acid. The “triplet code” is said to be degenerate or redundant because more than codon may exist for the same amino acid. For example, the codons AGA, AGG, CGU, CGC, CGA and CGG all code for arginine. There are 64 codons, of which 3 (UAA, UAG and UGA) are nonsense codons. They don’t code for any amino acid, but act as stop codons. There are specific codons which code for start and stop sequences. The start codon (AUG) indicates the beginning of the sequence to be translated, and the stop codons (UAA, UGA, UAG) terminate the protein synthesis. With the exception of methionine, all amino acids are coded for by more than one codon. The DNA in a gene that are expressed into the protein product are called exons and the non-coding DNA segments are called introns. There are no introns in bacterial chromosome. A segment of DNA carrying codons specifying a particular polypeptide is called a cistron or a gene. Flow of genetic information The central dogma of molecular biology is that DNA carries all genetic information. The flow of genetic information includes the replication of DNA to make more DNA, the transcription of the DNA into mRNA and the translation of mRNA into proteins. Replication of DNA first involves the separation of the two strands of DNA followed by synthesis of new identical DNA strand by enzymes called DNA polymerases. The RNA strand is synthesized by enzymes called RNA polymerases. The RNA sequence will be complementary to the DNA sequence. The mRNA strands are then guided to the ribosomes for protein translation. Amino acid residues are brought to the mRNA strand on the ribosomes by transfer RNA (tRNA). Operon concept Some proteins (or enzymes) are always required by a bacterium, genes coding for such proteins are constitutively expressed. These genes are usually needed for the cell to survive. Other genes that may not be needed at all times are regulated to conserve energy and cellular materials. Some proteins (or enzymes) are produced only when the need arises or when stimulated by certain environmental conditions. Such genes are normally repressed and are induced whenever required. Repression is a method of inhibiting or decreasing the expression of specific genetic products. This inhibition is controlled by proteins called repressors, which usually block the binding of RNA polymerase to the template DNA. Induction is the opposite of repression, inducers act to “turn on” genes that are not constitutive. The operon concept was first demonstrated by Jacob and Monad. Bacteria utilize a special energy saving system of genetic control called operons. The operon is a sequence of DNA that contains multiple genes used to produce multiple proteins for a single purpose. An example of an operon is the lac operon in E. coli. In order to break down lactose, E. coli must use a series of enzymes (beta-galactosidase, galactoside permease and transacetylase). The genes for these three enzymes are located in a row on the DNA and share a single promoter. Genes determining structure of a particular protein are called structural genes and the activity of structural genes are controlled by regulator genes, which lie adjacent to them. The genes lacZ, lacY and lacA which code for the three enzymes are the structural genes. lacI gene codes for the repressor protein, hence is the regulator gene. Between the lacI gene and the structural genes lie promoter and operator genes. For transcription of the structural genes, the enzyme RNA polymerase first has to bind to promoter region. The operator region lies in between the promoter and structural genes and the RNA polymerase has to go through the operator region. Under normal circumstances, when the structural genes are not transcribed, the repressor protein is bound to the operator region thus preventing the passage of RNA polymerase from the operator region towards the operon. When lactose is available in the environment, the repressor protein leaves the operator region and binds to lactose because it has high affinity for lactose. This frees the operator region and the RNA polymerase enzyme moves towards the operon and transcribes the structural genes. The products of structural genes result in the metabolism of lactose. When lactose is no more available, the repressor protein goes back and binds to the operator region, thus stopping further transcription of structural genes. This way lactose acts both as inducer as well as a substrate for beta galactosidase.