JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by An, F. Y.
Right arrow Articles by Clewell, D. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by An, F. Y.
Right arrow Articles by Clewell, D. B.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 1999, p. 5915-5921, Vol. 181, No. 19
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification and Characterization of a Determinant (eep) on the Enterococcus faecalis Chromosome That Is Involved in Production of the Peptide Sex Pheromone cAD1

Florence Y. An,1 Mark C. Sulavik,2,dagger and Don B. Clewell1,3,*

Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences, School of Dentistry,1 and Department of Microbiology and Immunology,3 and Infectious Disease Unit,2 School of Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Received 1 June 1999/Accepted 27 July 1999

Plasmid-free strains of Enterococcus faecalis secrete a peptide sex pheromone, cAD1, which specifically induces a mating response by donors carrying the hemolysin plasmid pAD1 or related elements. A determinant on the E. faecalis OG1X chromosome has been found to encode a 46.5-kDa protein that plays an important role in the production of the extracellular cAD1. Wild-type E. faecalis OG1X cells harboring a plasmid chimera carrying the determinant exhibited an eightfold enhanced production of cAD1, and plasmid-free cells carrying a mutated chromosomal determinant secreted undetectable or very low amounts of the pheromone. The production of other pheromones such as cPD1, cOB1, and cCF10 was also influenced, although there was no effect on the pheromone cAM373. The determinant, designated eep (for enhanced expression of pheromone), did not include the sequence of the pheromone. Its deduced product (Eep) contains apparent membrane-spanning sequences; conceivably it is involved in processing a pheromone precursor structure or in some way regulates expression or secretion.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Biologic and Materials Sciences, School of Dentistry, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078. Phone: (734) 763-0117. Fax: (734) 763-9905. E-mail: dclewell{at}umich.edu.

dagger Present address: Genome Therapeutics Corp., Waltham, MA 02154-8440.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 1999, p. 5915-5921, Vol. 181, No. 19
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.