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Journal of Bacteriology, September 2001, p. 5015-5024, Vol. 183, No. 17
Department of Biology, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas 77843-3258,1 and
Biologie VIII: Zellphysiologie, Universitaet Bielefeld,
D-33615 Bielefeld, Germany2
Received 22 February 2001/Accepted 6 June 2001
Expression of a thylakoid membrane-associated protein called IdiA
(iron-deficiency-induced protein
A) is highly elevated and tightly regulated by iron
limitation in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 6301 and PCC
7942. Although this protein is not essential for photosystem II (PSII)
activity, it plays an important role in protecting the acceptor side of
PSII against oxidative damage, especially under iron-limiting growth
conditions, by an unknown mechanism. We defined the iron-responsive
idiA promoter by using insertional inactivation
mutagenesis and reporter gene assays. A 67-bp DNA region was sufficient
for full iron deficiency-inducible idiA promoter
activity. Within this fragment is a palindromic sequence 4 bp upstream
of a putative
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.17.5015-5024.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Unusual Regulatory Elements for Iron Deficiency
Induction of the idiA Gene of Synechococcus
elongatus PCC 7942
35 promoter element, which resembles the binding site
of FNR/CAP-type helix-turn-helix transcription factors. The absence of
this palindromic sequence or a 3-bp mutation in a putative
10 region
eliminated promoter activity completely. A previously identified
candidate for a positively acting transcription factor is the IdiB
protein, whose gene lies immediately downstream of idiA.
IdiB shows strong similarity to helix-turn-helix transcription factors
of the FNR/CAP family. A His6x-tagged IdiB that was
overexpressed in Escherichia coli bound to a 59-bp
fragment of the idiA regulatory region that included the
palindrome. Although the idiA promoter lacks a consensus
binding site for the iron-sensing regulator Fur, we attempted to
inactivate fur in order to investigate the potential
role of this factor. The resulting merodiploid mutants showed
constitutive partial derepression of IdiA expression under iron-sufficient growth conditions. We concluded that IdiB is a specific
iron-responsive regulator of idiA and that Fur has an indirect role in influencing idiA expression.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3258. Phone: (979) 845-9824. Fax: (979) 862-7659. E-mail:
sgolden{at}tamu.edu.
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