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Updated: Sep 3, 2026

Mutagenesis and Functional Selection Protocols for Directed Evolution of Proteins in E. coli
Published on: March 16, 2011
Mutability by polycyclic hydrocarbons is improved in derivatives of Escherichia coli WP2 uvrA with increased
G Herrera1, A Urios, V Aleixandre
1Instituto de Investigaciones Citológicas, Fundación Valenciana de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Spain.
Abstract:
Escherichia coli B, unlike both E. coli K12 and Salmonella typhimurium, is sensitive to the rough-specific phage C21. This sensitivity is probably due to the incomplete lipopolysaccharide core of the E. coli B cells, which confers on them a partial permeability to large molecules. Derivatives of WP2 uvrA, a tryptophan-requiring E. coli B strain, were rendered still more permeable by selecting for C21-resistant clones. The new permeable strains, when tested for mutagenesis induced by polycyclic hydrocarbons, showed a mutagenic response higher than that of the parental strains.
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