Characterization of Altered Flagellin Genes from Color Variants of Serratia Marcescens

着色细菌粘质沙雷氏菌最显著的特性之一是颜色不稳定现象。不同的菌株在颜色和产生颜色变异的频率上都有很大的不同。在一个应变中，这些变化以恒定速率发生，并且是可逆的。高度的遗传不稳定性使人联想到DNA重排，如在各种生物过程中发现的移位、缺失或倒位。在对这一现象的调查中，Harshey博士观察到粘质葡萄球菌菌株274中39千道尔蛋白质的变化与颜色变化密切相关。通过对这种蛋白质的抗体，她将其鉴定为细菌鞭毛蛋白。在37摄氏度以上的温度下，颜色和鞭毛都不会产生。因此，色素合成和鞭毛蛋白合成似乎是共同调节的。我们拟分离并鉴定鞭毛沙雷氏菌的基因。

One of the most striking properties of the pigmented bacterium Serratia marcescens is the phenomenon of color instability. Different strains differ greatly both in color and in the frequency with which they produce color variants. Within a strain, the variations occur at constant rates and are reversible. The high degree of genetic instability is reminiscent of DNA rearrangements such as transpositions, deletions or inversions which are found to occur during various biological processes. During an investigation of this phenomenon Dr. Harshey observed that variation of a 39 kilodalton protein in S. marcescens strain 274, is closely associated with color variation. Using antibodies to this protein she identified it as being the bacterial flagellin. Neither color nor flagellin are produced at temperatures above 37 oC. Thus, pigment synthesis and flagellin synthesis appear to be co-regulated. We propose to isolate and characterize the gene(s) for Serratia flagellin.