J. Bacteriol., Dec 1995, 7194-7201, Vol 177, No. 24
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology

Role of the ferric uptake regulator of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the regulation of siderophores and exotoxin A expression: purification and activity on iron-regulated promoters

UA Ochsner, AI Vasil and ML Vasil
Department of Microbiology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262, USA.

The cloned Pseudomonas aeruginosa fur (ferric uptake regulator) gene was overexpressed in P. aeruginosa by using a T7 expression system, and the Fur protein (PA-Fur) was purified by using a combination of ion- exchange chromatography and metal affinity chromatography. The DNA binding activity of the PA-Fur protein was confirmed by gel mobility shift assays and DNase I footprints of the synthetic DNA fragment GATAAT GATAATCATTATC, representing a perfect "Fur box". In addition, it was shown that PA-Fur is capable of binding to promoter and operator determinants of the tightly iron-regulated Escherichia coli fepA-fes enterobactin gene system. The activity of PA-Fur on the promoters of iron-regulated genes involved in the production of two siderophores, pyochelin and pyoverdin, and in the expression of exotoxin A was investigated. Data indicating that the promoters of the pchR gene, encoding a transcriptional activator for pyochelin synthesis, and of the pvdS gene, encoding a positive regulator for pyoverdin production, are specifically recognized by Fur-Fe(II) are presented, suggesting that PA-Fur represses expression of pchR and pvdS during growth in an iron-replete environment. However, neither the promoter region of the gene encoding exotoxin A (toxA) nor the promoters of the regAB operon, required for toxA expression, interacted with high concentrations of purified PA-Fur. These data indicate that iron regulation of exotoxin A production involves additional factors which may ultimately be under the control of PA-Fur.

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