Temperature-sensitive initiation of chromosome replication in a mutant of Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

A mutant of Bacillus subtilis Ts37 has been isolated in which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis is inhibited at high temperature. The results presented here indicate that the process of initiation of DNA replication is temperature sensitive in this mutant. After shifting to 45 C, DNA increases 40 to 50% before synthesis ceases; an inhibition of protein synthesis permits an equivalent amount of DNA to be synthesized. A density shift experiment coupled with a marker frequency analysis shows that DNA synthesized at 45 C is highly enriched in the markers situated at the end of the chromosome. Transforming DNA extracted from a culture which has been incubated at 45 C exhibits the relative transforming efficiency for origin and terminus markers characteristic of completed chromosomes. After a shift back from 45 C to 30 C, reinitiation appears to occur always in the same region of the bacterial chromosome; in addition, replication as well as cell division is synchronized.