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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2000, p. 5931-5934, Vol. 182, No. 20
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Identification in Listeria monocytogenes of MecA, a Homologue of the Bacillus subtilis Competence Regulatory Protein

Elise Borezee,1 Tarek Msadek,2 Lionel Durant,1 and Patrick Berche1,*

INSERM U411, Faculté de Médecine Necker, 75730 Paris Cedex 15,1 and Unité de Biochimie Microbienne (URA 1300, CNRS), Institut Pasteur, Paris,2 France

Received 2 May 2000/Accepted 19 July 2000

We identified in Listeria monocytogenes a gene encoding a protein homologous to MecA, a regulatory protein acting with ClpC and ComK in the competence pathway of Bacillus subtilis. In L. monocytogenes, MecA is involved, along with ClpC and ClpP, in the downregulation of a 64-kDa secreted protein. In B. subtilis, the MecA protein of L. monocytogenes behaves as a regulatory protein, controlling the transcription of comK and comG. Complete or disrupted ComK homologues were also found in L. monocytogenes. However, we failed to detect competence in various strains of L. monocytogenes, including those with intact ComK. Our results suggest that the functions of MecA in the saprophytes L. monocytogenes and B. subtilis have presumably diverged in response to their respective ecological niches.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: INSERM U411, Faculté de Médecine Necker, 156 Rue de Vaugirard, 75730 Paris Cedex 15, France. Phone: (33) 1 40 61 53 71. Fax: (33) 1 40 61 55 92. E-mail: berche{at}necker.fr.

Journal of Bacteriology, October 2000, p. 5931-5934, Vol. 182, No. 20
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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