Altered dihydrofolate reductase in fol regulatroy mutants of Escherichia coli K12.

Three spontaneous fol regulatory mutants contain dihydrofolate reductase molecules which differ in physical properties from enzymes of their parent strains. The enzymes were purified over 100-fold by affinity chromatography and were shown to differ in vitro in thermolability and in affinity for trimethoprim, a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme. These results indicate that some fol regulatroy mutations occur in the structural gene for dihydrofolate reductase.