title: Role of the upstream region containing an intrinsic DNA curvature in the negative regulation of the phospholipase C gene of Clostridium perfringens.
abstract: The phospholipase C (alpha-toxin) gene (plc) of Clostridium perfringens was cloned into pUC19 and the effects of the upstream regions on expression of the plc gene were examined in Escherichia coli JM109. When the 0.7-kb region just upstream of the putative -35 site of the gene was deleted, production of phospholipase C increased approximately 10-fold. Northern blot hybridization analysis of the plc transcript showed that the upstream region inhibited transcription from the plc promoter. Nucleotide sequencing of this upstream region revealed that there are three periodically repeated (dA)5-6 tracts between positions -66 and -40 of the plc gene. A fragment containing this sequence showed anomalously slow electrophoretic mobility at low temperature, indicating that the region immediately upstream of the plc promoter is a locus of sequence directed DNA-bending. Nested deletions of the upstream region were created from its 5' end by exonuclease III and the effects of deletions on the expression of the plc gene were examined. When the 77-bp fragment containing the two (dA)5-6 tracts were deleted, phospholipase C production increased markedly. These results indicate that the intrinsic DNA curvature upstream of the plc promoter is involved in the negative regulation of the plc gene transcription.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Kagawa Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyonaga
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okabe
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014162:Transfection; D010738:Type C Phospholipases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D010738:Type C Phospholipases; C040649:alpha toxin, Clostridium perfringens