title: A small protein from the bop-brp intergenic region of Halobacterium salinarum contains a zinc finger motif and regulates bop and crtB1 transcription.
abstract: Bacteriorhodopsin, the photosynthetic protein of Halobacterium salinarum, is optimally expressed under anaerobic growth conditions. We identified Brz (OE3104F, bacteriorhodopsin-regulating zinc finger protein), a new regulator of the bop gene. It is a small protein with a zinc finger motif, encoded directly upstream of the bop gene in the same orientation. Deletion of the brz gene caused a large decrease of bop mRNA levels as shown by Northern blot and microarray analysis. A similar effect was obtained by site-directed mutagenesis of Cys and His residues in the zinc finger motif, indicating the importance of this motif for the function of the protein. In silico analysis of the genomes from H. salinarum and other archaea revealed a large family of similar small zinc finger motif proteins, some of which may also be involved in transcription regulation of their adjacent genes.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Department of Membrane Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany.
authors.forename: Valery Y
authors.initials: VY
authors.lastname: Tarasov
authors.forename: Hüseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Besir
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schwaiger
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klee
authors.forename: Katarina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furtwängler
authors.forename: Friedhelm
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oesterhelt
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019843:Archaeal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D019848:Gene Expression Regulation, Archaeal; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D019617:Halobacterium salinarum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D019843:Archaeal Proteins; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins