Figure 2: Expression of active ErmC decreases the fitness of S. aureus. | Nature Communications

Figure 2: Expression of active ErmC decreases the fitness of S. aureus.

From: Deregulation of translation due to post-transcriptional modification of rRNA explains why erm genes are inducible

Figure 2

(a) Principle of detection of A2058 dimethylation by primer extension. In the presence of dATP, dGTP, dTTP and ddCTP, reverse transcriptase extends the 18-nucleotide (nt) long primer by four nucleotides when A2058 is not modified but only by 2 nucleotides when the residue is dimethylated, because extension is impeded by the modification. The 20-nt band on the gel reflects the extent of dimethylation of A2058 in rRNA from S. aureus USA300 cells containing pLI50, pErmCC or pErmCC* plasmids (lanes 2–4, respectively). Lane 1 contains the labelled primer. (b,c) Growth competition between S. aureus USA300 cells transformed with plasmids pErmCC and pLI50 (b), or pErmCC and pErmCC* (c). The percentage of cells expressing active ErmC was estimated by measuring the level of A2058 methylation every 10 generations for a total of ca. 40 generations. Values are the mean of three independent experiments; error bars indicate the s.d. of the mean.

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