title: Cloning, sequence and mutagenesis of the structural gene of Pseudomonas aeruginosa CysB, which can activate algD transcription.
abstract: Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains infecting patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) acquire a mucoid phenotype due to overproduction of alginate. The key enzyme in alginate synthesis is AlgD, whose promoter is transcriptionally active in mucoid strains and under the control of several trans-acting factors, including the integration host factor (IHF). The algD promoter (palgD) contains two IHF-binding sites (ihf1 and ihf2). Study of IHF binding to ihf2 of palgD, by electrophoretic mobility-shift assays, led to the discovery of a protein of 36 kDa (p36) able to bind downstream from ihf2, to the 3' region of palgD. The gene encoding p36 was isolated from the mucoid strain CHA of P. aeruginosa and sequenced. It can encode a 324-amino-acid protein, which shares a high degree of sequence identity (63%) with CysB from Escherichia coli and from Salmonella typhimurium, a transcriptional factor of the LysR superfamily. Furthermore, both p36 and S. typhimurium CysB bind the same site of palgD; p36 was therefore termed CysB and its structural gene was called cysB. Next to cysB, on the opposite DNA strand, cysH was capable of encoding a protein sharing 26% identity with CysH (PAPS reductase) of E. coli and an even greater identity (54%) with the nucleotide-deduced protein from Arabidopsis. A CysB-deficient mutant of CHA, constructed by insertional inactivation of cysB, was a cysteine auxotroph and was unable to form a specific complex with palgD in vitro. Activity of palgD in the cysB mutant, in CHA and in the non-mucoid strain PAO was assessed by the use of a transcriptional algD-xylE fusion. Cells of PAO and of the cysB mutant grown in minimal media in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl exhibited a palgD activity, which was 10% or less that of the mucoid strain CHA. Thus, P. aeruginosa CysB can act as an activator of algD expression.
authors.affiliation: CEA/Grenoble, Laboratoire de Biochimie et Biophysique des Systèmes Integrés (CEA/CNRS UMR 314), France. ID@girose.ceng.cea.fr
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Delic-Attree
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Toussaint
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garin
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Vignais
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D034982:Integration Host Factors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C062886:CysB protein, Bacteria; C489265:CysB protein, Salmonella typhimurium; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D034982:Integration Host Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; C440503:integration host factor, Pseudomonas; C440508:integration host factor, Salmonella; C073470:LysR protein, Bacteria; D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases; C020562:GDPmannose dehydrogenase