A temperature-sensitive DNA adenine methyltransferase mutant of Salmonella typhimurium

A temperature-sensitive mutant of Salmonella typhimurium was isolated earlier after transposon mutagenesis with Tn10d Tet. The mutant D220 grows well at 28 degreesC but has a lower growth rate and forms filaments at 37 degreesC. Transposon-flanking fragments of mutant D220 DNA were cloned and sequenced. The transposon was inserted in the dam gene between positions 803 and 804 (assigned allele number: dam-231 : : Tn10d Tet) and resulted in a predicted ten-amino-acid-shorter Dam protein. The insertion created a stop codon that led to a truncated Dam protein with a temperature-sensitive phenotype. The insertion dam-231 : : Tn10d Tet resulted in a dam "leaky" phenotype since methylated and unmethylated adenines in GATC sequences were present. In addition, the dam-231 : : Tn10d Tet insertion rendered dam mutants temperature-sensitive for growth depending upon the genetic background of the S. typhimurium strain. The wild-type dam gene of S. typhimurium exhibited 82% identity with the Escherichia coli dam gene.