Journal of Bacteriology, September 1999, p. 5467-5475, Vol. 181, No. 17
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
4499 Regulatory Region
Controlling Developmental Expression of a Myxococcus
xanthus Cytochrome P-450 System

andDepartment of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
Received 23 December 1998/Accepted 11 June 1999
4499 is the site of a Tn5 lac insertion in the
Myxococcus xanthus chromosome that fuses lacZ
expression to a developmentally regulated promoter. Cell-cell
interactions that occur during development, including C signaling, are
required for normal expression of Tn5 lac
4499. The DNA
upstream of the
4499 insertion has been cloned, and the promoter has
been localized. Analysis of the DNA sequence downstream of the promoter
revealed one complete open reading frame and a second partial open
reading frame that is interrupted by Tn5 lac
4499. The
predicted products of these open reading frames are highly similar to
reductase and oxidase components of bacterial cytochrome P-450 systems,
which allow catabolism or anabolism of unusual compounds. However, the
function of the gene products of the
4499 locus remains unclear
because M. xanthus containing Tn5 lac
4499
exhibits no apparent defect in growth, developmental aggregation,
fruiting body formation, or sporulation. Deletion analysis of the
4499 regulatory region showed that multiple DNA elements spanning
more than 500 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site contribute
to developmental promoter activity. At least two DNA elements, one
downstream of
49 bp and one between
49 and
218 bp, boosted
activity of the promoter in response to intercellular C signaling.
Three sequences in the
4499 promoter region, centered at
55,
33,
and
1 bp, nearly match a 7-bp sequence found in other C
signal-dependent promoters. We propose that these sequences, matching
the consensus sequence 5'-CAYYCCY-3', be called C box sequences, and we speculate that these sequences are
cis-acting regulatory elements important for the expression
of M. xanthus genes that depend upon intercellular C
signaling during development.
Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of
Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Present address: Department of Molecular Microbiology and
Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel 69978.
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