title: Characterization of Acr2, an H-NS-like protein encoded on A/C2-type plasmids.
abstract: Conjugation plays an important role in the horizontal movement of DNA between bacterial species and even genera. Large conjugative plasmids in Gram-negative bacteria are associated with multi-drug resistance and have been implicated in the spread of these phenotypes to pathogenic organisms. A/C plasmids often carry genes that confer resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics. Recently, transcription factors were characterized that regulate A/C conjugation. In this work, we expanded the regulon of the negative regulator Acr2. We developed an A/C variant, pARK01, by precise removal of resistance genes carried by the plasmid in order to make it more genetically tractable. Using pARK01, we conducted RNA-Seq and ChAP-Seq experiments to characterize the regulon of Acr2, an H-NS-like protein. We found that Acr2 binds several loci on the plasmid. We showed, in vitro, that Acr2 can bind specific promoter regions directly and identify key amino acids which are important for this binding. This study further characterizes Acr2 and suggests its role in modulating gene expression of multiple plasmid and chromosomal loci.
authors: University of Minnesota, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States.
authors: Kevin S
authors: KS
authors: Lang
authors: University of Minnesota, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, St. Paul, MN 55108, United States. Electronic address: joh04207@umn.edu.
authors: Timothy J
authors: TJ
authors: Johnson
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D023061:Gene Order; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D059372:Nucleotide Motifs; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C529458:FimG protein, E coli; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins