title: Transcriptional analysis and operon structure of the tagA-orf2-orf3-mop-tagD region on the Vibrio pathogenicity island in epidemic V. cholerae.
abstract: The Vibrio pathogenicity island (VPI) in epidemic Vibrio cholerae is an essential virulence gene cluster. The VPI can excise from the chromosome and form extrachromosomal circular excision products. The VPI is 41.2-kb in size and encodes 29 potential proteins, several of which have no known function and whose regulation is not well understood. To determine the transcriptional organization of the tagA-orf2-orf3-mop-tagD region located at the 5'-(left) end of the VPI, we used reverse-transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR), Northern blot analysis and DNA sequencing. RT-PCR primers were designed to transcribe and amplify regions spanning two or more open reading frames so as to establish the transcriptional organization. RT-PCR and Northern blot results demonstrated that the tagA-tagD region is transcribed as a polycistronic message and organized into several potential operons including tagA-orf2, orf3-mop, orf3-mop-tagD and tagD alone. Transcriptional lacZ fusions supported the existence of a promoter upstream of orf3 that was toxT-dependent. Interestingly, our data suggests that the orf3 promoter can drive the expression of either a long transcript (orf3-mop-tagD) or a short transcript (orf3-mop) without tagD. Our data also suggests that tagD can be expressed from two different promoters and that tagD is either transcribed alone or co-expressed with orf3-mop under certain conditions. These studies provide new insight into the genetic structure, transcriptional organization and regulation of a cluster of virulence genes on the VPI of epidemic V. cholerae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Dalin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Manos
authors.forename: Xinrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Belas
authors.forename: David K R
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Karaolis
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009876:Operon; D010544:Peroxidases / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008074:Lipoproteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; C092406:TagA protein, bacteria; D037521:Virulence Factors; D010544:Peroxidases; C089974:TagD protein, Vibrio cholerae; D001616:beta-Galactosidase; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; C470925:Mop protein, Vibrio cholerae