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Updated: May 6, 2026
Mapping Bacterial Functional Networks and Pathways in Escherichia Coli using Synthetic Genetic Arrays
Published on: November 12, 2012
Tiling array study of MNNG treated Escherichia coli reveals a widespread transcriptional response
James A Booth1, Gard O S Thomassen, Alexander D Rowe
11] Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience (CMBN) and Department of Microbiology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, PO Box 4950 Nydalen, NO-0424 Oslo, Norway [2] Department of Microbiology, University of Oslo, PO Box 4950 Nydalen, NO-0424 Oslo, Norway [3].
Abstract:
The alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) is known to trigger the adaptive response by inducing the ada-regulon - consisting of three DNA repair enzymes Ada, AlkB, AlkA and the enigmatic AidB. We have applied custom designed tiling arrays to study transcriptional changes in Escherichia coli following a MNNG challenge. Along with the expected upregulation of the adaptive response genes (ada, alkA and alkB), we identified a number of differentially expressed transcripts, both novel and annotated. This indicates a wider regulatory response than previously documented. There were 250 differentially-expressed and 2275 similarly-expressed unannotated transcripts. We found novel upregulation of several stress-induced transcripts, including the SOS inducible genes recN and tisAB, indicating a novel role for these genes in alkylation repair. Furthermore, the ada-regulon A and B boxes were found to be insufficient to explain the regulation of the adaptive response genes after MNNG exposure, suggesting that additional regulatory elements must be involved.
