title: Regulation of the Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pI258 mercury resistance operon.
abstract: Experiments involving fusion between the Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pI258-encoded mer operon and the reporter gene beta-lactamase, mutational analysis, and trans-complementation studies have shown that the merR gene of pI258, which shows DNA sequence similarity with known merR genes from other bacteria, regulates the expression of the mer operon in vivo. The merR gene product is a trans-acting protein that activates mer operon transcription in the presence of the inducers Hg2+ and Cd2+. A glutathione-S-transferase-MerR fusion protein specifically bound and protected a 27-nucleotide operator sequence from DNase I digestion. This operator sequence is highly homologous with mer operator sequences of other known systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago 60680.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mukhopadhyay
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Misra
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002104:Cadmium / Q000494:pharmacology; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000235:genetics; D008628:Mercury / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009875:Operator Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C051124:MerR protein, Bacteria; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D002104:Cadmium; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D001618:beta-Lactamases; D008628:Mercury