title: Transcription activation of a UV-inducible Clostridium perfringens bacteriocin gene by a novel sigma factor.
abstract: Expression of the plasmid-encoded Clostridium perfringens gene for bacteriocin BCN5 was shown to depend in vivo and in vitro on the activity of UviA protein. UviA, also plasmid-encoded, proved to be an RNA polymerase sigma factor and was also partly autoregulatory. The uviA gene has two promoters; one provided a UviA-independent, basal level of gene expression while the stronger, UviA-dependent promoter was only utilized after the cell experienced DNA damage. As a result, BCN5 synthesis is induced by treatment with UV light or mitomycin C. UviA is related to a special class of sigma factors found to date only in Clostridium species and responsible for activating transcription of toxin genes in Clostridium difficile, Clostridium tetani, and Clostridium botulinum.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. bdupuy@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dupuy
authors.forename: Nagraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.forename: Seiichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Abraham L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Sonenshein
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001430:Bacteriocins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004249:DNA Damage; D017931:DNA Primers; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001430:Bacteriocins; D017931:DNA Primers; D012808:Sigma Factor