This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Murphree, D. Articles by Scott, J. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Murphree, D. Articles by Scott, J. R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J. Bacteriol., 09 1997, 5736-5743, Vol 179, No. 18
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology

Transcriptional control of genes encoding CS1 pili: negative regulation by a silencer and positive regulation by Rns

D Murphree, B Froehlich and JR Scott
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.

The adherence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) to the human small intestine is an important early event in infection. Attachment is thought to be mediated by proteinaceous structures called pili. We have investigated the regulation of expression of the genes encoding CS1 pili found on human ETEC strains and find that there are at least three promoters, P1 and P2, upstream of the coo genes, and P3, downstream of the start of cooB translation. We identified a silencer of transcription which extends over several hundred bases overlapping the cooB open reading frame. This silencer is dependent on the promoter and/or upstream region for its negative effect. The DNA binding protein H-NS is a repressor of coo transcription that acts in the same region as the silencer, so it is possible that H-NS is involved in this silencing. Rns, a member of the AraC family, positively regulates transcription of the coo operon and relieves the silencing of CS1 expression.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Stoebel, D. M., Free, A., Dorman, C. J. (2008). Anti-silencing: overcoming H-NS-mediated repression of transcription in Gram-negative enteric bacteria. Microbiology 154: 2533-2545 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Yang, J., Tauschek, M., Strugnell, R., Robins-Browne, R. M. (2005). The H-NS protein represses transcription of the eltAB operon, which encodes heat-labile enterotoxin in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, by binding to regions downstream of the promoter. Microbiology 151: 1199-1208 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tomich, M., Mohr, C. D. (2004). Genetic Characterization of a Multicomponent Signal Transduction System Controlling the Expression of Cable Pili in Burkholderia cenocepacia. J. Bacteriol. 186: 3826-3836 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tomich, M., Mohr, C. D. (2004). Transcriptional and Posttranscriptional Control of Cable Pilus Gene Expression in Burkholderia cenocepacia. J. Bacteriol. 186: 1009-1020 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Egan, S. M. (2002). Growing Repertoire of AraC/XylS Activators. J. Bacteriol. 184: 5529-5532 [Full Text]  
• Behrens, M., Sheikh, J., Nataro, J. P. (2002). Regulation of the Overlapping pic/set Locus in Shigella flexneri and Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli. Infect. Immun. 70: 2915-2925 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Nye, M. B., Pfau, J. D., Skorupski, K., Taylor, R. K. (2000). Vibrio cholerae H-NS Silences Virulence Gene Expression at Multiple Steps in the ToxR Regulatory Cascade. J. Bacteriol. 182: 4295-4303 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Coker, C., Bakare, O. O., Mobley, H. L. T. (2000). H-NS Is a Repressor of the Proteus mirabilis Urease Transcriptional Activator Gene ureR. J. Bacteriol. 182: 2649-2653 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Jordi, B. J. A. M., Higgins, C. F. (2000). The Downstream Regulatory Element of the proU Operon of Salmonella typhimurium Inhibits Open Complex Formation by RNA Polymerase at a Distance. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 12123-12128 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Noll, I., Müller, S., Klein, A. (1999). Transcriptional Regulation of Genes Encoding the Selenium-Free [NiFe]-Hydrogenases in the Archaeon Methanococcus voltae Involves Positive and Negative Control Elements. Genetics 152: 1335-1341 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Munson, G. P., Scott, J. R. (1999). Binding Site Recognition by Rns, a Virulence Regulator in the AraC Family. J. Bacteriol. 181: 2110-2117 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Trachman, J. D., Maas, W. K. (1998). Temperature Regulation of Heat-Labile Enterotoxin (LT) Synthesis in Escherichia coli Is Mediated by an Interaction of H-NS Protein with the LT A-Subunit DNA. J. Bacteriol. 180: 3715-3718 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bustamante, V. H., Calva, E., Puente, J. L. (1998). Analysis of cis-Acting Elements Required for bfpA Expression in Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 180: 3013-3016 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Voegele, K., Sakellaris, H., Scott, J. R. (1997). CooB plays a chaperone-like role for the proteins involved in formation of CS1 pili of enterotoxigenic coli. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94: 13257-13261 [Abstract] [Full Text]