Isolation of auxotrophic mutants of the blue-green bacterium, Anacystis nidulans, and Isolation and genetic mapping of temperature-sensitive mutants of the cyanophage AS-1
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- David Lee Spivey (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Robert Cannon
Abstract: I. Little information is currently available about the genetics of the blue-green bacteria (cyanobacteria). The need for research on the genetics of these organisms becomes apparent when one considers the recent advances in recombinant DNA research. Amid the controversy surrounding this technology of "genetic engineering", the possibility of transferring a gene for nitrogen fixation from blue-green bacteria to crop plants is one of the stronger arguments for allowing recombinant DNA research to continue. This possibility may not be too far in the future, in light of the recent successful transplantation of a rat gene for insulin into a bacterium, Escherichia coli (Ullrich et al. 1977). However, before this type of research may be done with the cyanobacteria, the genomes of these microorganisms must be mapped extensively. Mapping the genomes of the cyanobacteria by recombination frequencies will require two and three factor crosses. Before these may be attempted, however, there must be phenotypic characters, or markers which will signal the recombinational event. Investigators into the genetics of the cyanobacteria therefore need a variety of mutants, including auxotrophs requiring nucleic acid precursors, vitamins and amino acids. Using these markers and employing techniques of transformation and of transduction developed while mapping the genomes of E. coli and other heterotrophic bacteria, it should be possible to map the cyanobacterial genome as well. Orkwiszewski and Kaney (1973) have already shown that transformation can occur in the cyanobacterium, Anacystis nidulans.
Isolation of auxotrophic mutants of the blue-green bacterium, Anacystis nidulans, and Isolation and genetic mapping of temperature-sensitive mutants of the cyanophage AS-1
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Created on 1/1/1977
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 1977
- Subjects
- Cyanobacteria $x Biotechnology
- Algae
- Viruses