title: Specificity and polymorphism of the PlcR-PapR quorum-sensing system in the Bacillus cereus group.
abstract: The expression of extracellular virulence factors in various species of the Bacillus cereus group is controlled by the plcR and papR genes, which encode a transcriptional regulator and a cell-cell signaling peptide, respectively. A processed form of PapR, presumably a pentapeptide, specifically interacts with PlcR to facilitate its binding to its DNA targets. This activating mechanism is strain specific, with this specificity being determined by the first residue of the pentapeptide. We carried out in vivo complementation assays and compared the PlcR-PapR sequences of 29 strains from the B. cereus group. Our findings suggested that the fifth amino acid of the pentapeptide is also involved in the specificity of activation. We identified four classes of PlcR-PapR pairs, defining four distinct pherotypes in the B. cereus group. We used these findings to look at the evolution of the PlcR-PapR quorum-sensing system with regard to the phylogeny of the species forming the B. cereus group.
authors.affiliation: Génétique et Physiologie des Bacillus Pathogènes, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Leyla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Slamti
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lereclus
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; C466079:PapR protein, Bacillus cereus; C099480:PlcR protein, Bacillus; D015534:Trans-Activators