Control of the respiratory metabolism of Thermus thermophilus by the nitrate respiration conjugative element NCE.
The strains of Thermus thermophilus that contain the nitrate respiration conjugative element (NCE) replace their aerobic respiratory chain by an anaerobic counterpart made of the Nrc-NADH dehydrogenase and the Nar-nitrate reductase in response to nitrate and oxygen depletion. This replacement depends on DnrS and DnrT, two homologues to sensory transcription factors encoded in a bicistronic operon by the NCE. DnrS is an oxygen-sensitive protein required in vivo to activate transcription on its own dnr promoter and on that of the nar operon, but not required for the expression of the nrc operon. In contrast, DnrT is required for the transcription of these three operons and also for the repression of nqo, the operon that encodes the major respiratory NADH dehydrogenase expressed during aerobic growth. Thermophilic in vitro assays revealed that low DnrT concentrations allows the recruitment of the T. thermophilus RNA polymerase sigma(A) holoenzyme to the nrc promoter and its transcription, whereas higher DnrT concentrations are required to repress transcription on the nqo promoter. In conclusion, our data show a complex autoinducible mechanism by which DnrT functions as the transcriptional switch that allows the NCE to take the control of the respiratory metabolism of its host during adaptation to anaerobic growth.
Cava
Felipe
F
Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Departamento de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
Laptenko
Oleg
O
Borukhov
Sergei
S
Chahlafi
Zahra
Z
Blas-Galindo
Emilio
E
Gómez-Puertas
Paulino
P
Berenguer
José
J
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D050901:Nitrate Reductase / Q000378:metabolism; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism*; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics; D010100:Oxygen / Q000494:pharmacology; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D016963:Thermus thermophilus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009566:Nitrates; D014157:Transcription Factors; D009245:NADH Dehydrogenase; D050901:Nitrate Reductase; D010100:Oxygen