Pleiotropic mutations in Serratia marcescens which increase the synthesis of certain exocellular proteins and the rate of spontaneous prophage induction.

Abstract

Mutants of S. marcescens HY have been isolated which produce between five and one hundred times more exocellular nuclease than does the parental strain. These nuclease-superactive (nuc su) mutants are highly pleiotropic: they produce more exocellular marcescin A and lipase than the wild-type and their ability to inactivate penicillin G is increased. Furthermore, all nuclease-superactive mutants if lysogenic for the heteroimmune phages Kappa and/or y show spontaneous induction rates for both prophages 10 to 200 fold greater than the corresponding wild-type. Nuc su mutants of independent origin synthesize nuclease and marcescin A in approximately proportional amounts although the corresponding structural genes do not seem to be part of a single operon because some bacteriocin-superactive mutants were isolated which showed an increase of the synthesis of marcescin A only. Nuclease-defective (nuc) mutants are all of the non-pleiotropic type. Three hypotheses to explain the effects of the nuc su mutation at the molecular level are discussed and some evidence in support of one of these hypotheses (gene-dosage effect) is presented in an accompanying paper (Timmis and Winkler, 1973).