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PMID: 8626294 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The complex bet promoters of Escherichia coli: regulation by oxygen (ArcA), choline (BetI), and osmotic stress.

Journal of bacteriology ·Vol. 178 ·No. 6 ·1996-03-00 ·Pages 1655-62

Lamark T, Røkenes TP, McDougall J, Strøm AR

Abstract

The bet regulon allows Escherichia coli to synthesize the osmoprotectant glycine betaine from choline. It comprises a regulatory gene, betI, and three structural genes: betT (choline porter), betA (choline dehydrogenase), and betB (betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase). The bet genes are regulated by oxygen, choline, and osmotic stress. Primer extension analysis identified two partially overlapping promoters which were responsible for the divergent expression of the betT and betIBA transcripts. The transcripts were initiated 61 bp apart. Regulation of the promoters was investigated by using cat (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase) and lacZ (beta-galactosidase) operon fusions. Mutation of betI on plasmid F'2 revealed that BetI is a repressor which regulates both promoters simultaneously in response to the inducer choline. Both promoters remained inducible by osmotic stress in a betI mutant background. On the basis of experiments with hns and hns rpoS mutants, we conclude that osmoregulation of the bet promoters was hns independent. The bet promoters were repressed by ArcA under anaerobic growth conditions. An 89-bp promoter fragment, as well as all larger fragments tested, which included both transcriptional start points, displayed osmotic induction and BetI-dependent choline regulation when linked with a cat reporter gene on plasmid pKK232-8. Flanking DNA, presumably on the betT side of the promoter region, appeared to be needed for ArcA-dependent regulation of both promoters.

MeSH Terms
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins/metabolism Base Sequence Betaine/metabolism Choline/pharmacology DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism Escherichia coli/genetics Escherichia coli Proteins Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Genes, Regulator Molecular Sequence Data Mutation Operator Regions, Genetic Osmotic Pressure Oxygen/pharmacology Plasmids Promoter Regions, Genetic Recombinant Fusion Proteins Regulon Repressor Proteins/metabolism
Chemicals
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins BetI protein, E coli DNA-Binding Proteins Escherichia coli Proteins Recombinant Fusion Proteins Repressor Proteins arcA protein, E coli Betaine Choline Oxygen
Authors & Affiliations
4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Lamark T
The Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø, Norway.
Røkenes T P
McDougall J
Strøm A R
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Article Info
Journal
Journal of bacteriology
Abbr.
J Bacteriol
ISSN
0021-9193
DOI
10.1128/jb.178.6.1655-1662.1996
Published
1996-03-00
Pages
1655-62
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
2985120R
PMCID
PMC177851
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/jb.178.6.1655-1662.1996 PMC Full Text View journal details
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