NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE ESCHERICHIA-COLI MICA GENE REQUIRED FOR A/G-SPECIFIC MISMATCH REPAIR - IDENTITY OF MICA AND MUTY

The Escherchia coli methylation-independent repair pathway specific for A/G mismatches has been shown to require the gene product of micA. Extracts prepared from micA mutants do not form an A/G mismatch-specific DNA-protein complex and do not contain an A/G mismatch-specific nicking activity. Moreover, a partially purified protein fraction containing both A/G mismatch-specific nicking and binding activities restores repair activity in micA mutant extracts. The DNA sequence of a 2.3-kb fragment containing the micA gene has been determined. There are two open reading frames (ORF) in this DNA fragment: one ORF encodes a 25.7-kDa protein whose function is still unknown, the other ORF codes for a protein with an M(r) of 39,147, but this ORF can be transcribed and the mRNA can be translated to yield a protein with an apparent M(r) of 36 kDa on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. Deletion analysis showed that this 39.1-kDa ORF is the micA gene as judged by the capacity of the encoded protein to restore the A/G mismatch-specific nicking activity of micA mutant extracts. Furthermore, our results suggest that micA is the same gene as the closely mapped mutY, which encodes the A/G mismatch-specific glycosylase.