Taq and T7 DNA polymerases have become basic molecular biology "tools" for DNA sequence analysis. However, Taq, unlike T7 DNA polymerase, is strongly biased against the incorporation of 2',3'-dideoxynucleotide triphosphates (ddNTPs) indicating very different substrate selectivities. Equilibrium binding and rate constants were measured for 2',3'-ddNTPs as well as for several other 3'-substituted terminators and compared to 2'-deoxynucleotide substrates (dNTPs). In steady-state experiments, Taq Pol I was strongly biased in favor of dATP1 over ddATP incorporation by about 700 to 1, in contrast to T7 DNA polymerase which showed a preference of only about 4 to 1. Manganese reduced but did not eliminate selectivity against 2',3'-ddNTPs. Transient kinetic traces indicated different rate-limiting steps for substrate and terminator incorporation. Further mechanistic studies showed that the binding constants for substrates and terminators were equivalent. However, the rate constants for phosphodiester bond formation for 2',3'-ddNTPs were 200-3000-fold lower than for dNTPs. Alternative terminators showed only slight improvements. The data were consistent with a model in which both substrates and terminators undergo ground-state binding followed by formation of a tight-binding Enz.DNA.Nucleotide complex. Immediately after complex formation, substrates undergo a rapid nucleoside phosphoryl transfer reaction. However, the reaction rates for terminators were slower presumably due to misalignment of reactive groups in the active site. Thus, the strong bias that Taq DNA polymerase shows against terminators is due to a very slow "chemistry" step. Such a strong bias has several kinetic consequences for DNA sequence patterns. These consequences are discussed in the text.

The HTLV-I tax gene protein (Tax) is not packaged within the mature viral particle from which the proteins for the commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are derived. Screening of 162 individuals within a cohort of white intravenous (IV) drug abusers, previously identified as having an increased incidence of HTLV-I infection, demonstrated that seven of them had antibodies to the HTLV-I Tax protein but tested negative in HTLV-I ELISAs and Western blots prepared from purified virion proteins. Three out of 35 individuals in other behaviorally defined high-risk groups also displayed this limited pattern of reactivity to HTLV-I proteins. The presence of the anti-HTLV- I p40/Tax antibodies was determined by radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA), which also revealed low levels of anti-env reactivity. The specificity of the anti-p40 reactivity was confirmed on specific Tax ELISAs and Western blots prepared from recombinantly produced Tax. In vitro gene amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to establish the presence of sequences homologous to HTLV-I proviral DNA in four/four of these HTLV-I ELISA negative, Tax ELISA/Tax western blot/RIPA positive individuals. These data suggest that the true incidence of HTLV-I infection within high-risk cohorts is greater than previously reported.

We have developed a new expression vector, pcI ts ind + , based upon the powerful rightward promoter of bacteriophage lambda, which is controlled by a temperature-sensitive and chemicallyinducible version of the lambda repressor on the same plasmid. Locating the repressor gene on the plasmid makes this vector "portable" in that it can be used to transform any strain of E. coli. Hence, control over strains, induction conditions, and harvest times can be used to optimize yields of heterologous proteins. To provide a proof of concept, we show that Escherichia coli recA + and recA − host cells transformed with pcI ts ind + modKlenTaq1 (a modified version of the large fragment of Thermus aquaticus DNA polymerase I) could be grown to high cell densities in multiple shake-flasks. A mutant version of modKlenTaq1 (V649C) could be induced by simply raising the thermostat setting from 30 to 37 °C and (in the case of recA + cells) adding nalidixic acid to achieve full induction (12 to 13% of the total cellular protein). Using a rapid, two-step purification process, it was possible to purify nearly 300 mg of modKlenTaq1 V649C from six 2.8-liter baffle-bottomed shake-flasks each holding 1.5 liters of culture for a final yield of approximately 33 mg per liter or 3 mg of purified enzyme per gram of cells wet weight.

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