title: Regulators of bacterial responses to nitric oxide.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is an intermediate of the respiratory pathway known as denitrification, and is a by-product of anaerobic nitrite respiration in the enteric Bacteria. Pathogens are also exposed to NO inside host phagocytes, and possibly in other host niches as well. In recent years it has become apparent that there are multiple regulatory systems in prokaryotes that mediate responses to NO exposure. Owing to its reactivity, NO also has the potential to perturb the activities of other regulatory proteins, which are not necessarily directly involved in the response to NO. This review describes the current state of understanding of regulatory systems that respond to NO. An emerging trend is the predominance of iron proteins among the known physiological NO sensors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688, USA. stephen.spiro@utdallas.edu
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spiro
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019159:Nonheme Iron Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D007506:Iron-Sulfur Proteins; D019159:Nonheme Iron Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C068477:ferric uptake regulating proteins, bacterial; C122138:peroxide repressor proteins; C070724:SoxR protein, Bacteria; D009569:Nitric Oxide