title: Characterization in vitro and in vivo of a new HU family protein from Streptococcus thermophilus ST11.
abstract: Streptococcus thermophilus is a thermophilic gram-positive bacterium belonging to the lactic acid group. We report the isolation and characterization of a new 9.6-kDa DNA-binding protein, HSth, belonging to the HU family of nucleoid-associated proteins. The hsth gene was isolated in a 2.5-kb genomic region, upstream of a gene with strong homology to Lactococcus lactis pyrD. It is transcribed from a single E. coli sigma(70)-like promoter. Based on its high level of sequence similarity to B. subtilis and E. coli HU, HSth appears to be an HU homologue. The HSth protein shows biochemical and functional properties typical of HU proteins from gram-positive bacteria, being heat-stable, acid-soluble, and homodimeric. When expressed in HU-deficient E. coli cells, HSth supported the growth of bacteriophage Mu as efficiently as E. coli HU homo- and heterodimeric proteins. It did not, however, display any IHF-specific functions. Finally, we show that HSth binds to linear DNA with no apparent specificity, forming protein-DNA complexes similar but not identical to those observed with E. coli HU proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Geneva, Geneva 4, 1211, Switzerland. sundiatu@hotmail.com
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dixon-Fyle
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caro
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010583:Bacteriophage mu / Q000737:chemistry; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000737:chemistry*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C040330:histone-like protein HU, bacteria