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Journal of Bacteriology, December 2002, p. 6700-6708, Vol. 184, No. 23
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.23.6700-6708.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification by RNA Profiling and Mutational Analysis of the Novel Copper Resistance Determinants CrdA (HP1326), CrdB (HP1327), and CzcB (HP1328) in Helicobacter pylori

Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University Hospital Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg,¹ GPC Biotech AG, D-82152 Martinsried/Munich,³ Department of Bioinformatics, ALTANA Pharma, D-78467 Konstanz, Germany,⁴ ALTANA Research Institute, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451²

Received 3 June 2002/ Accepted 11 September 2002

Mechanisms involved in maintaining cytoplasmic metal ion homeostasis play a central role in the adaptation of Helicobacter pylori to the changing gastric environment. An investigation of the global regulatory responses to copper ions by using RNA profiling with a threshold factor of 4.0 revealed that copper induces transcription of 19 H. pylori genes and that only the ferritin gene pfr is repressed. The 57-fold copper induction identified the HP1326 gene encoding an H. pylori-specific protein as a candidate for a novel copper resistance determinant. The HP1326 gene is expressed as a monocistronic unit, and two small HP1326 mRNAs are copper induced. The HP1326 protein is secreted and is required for copper resistance maintained by cytoplasmic copper homeostasis, as H. pylori HP1326 mutants were copper sensitive and displayed increased copper induction of HP1326 transcription as well as elevated copper repression of ferritin synthesis. The clear copper-sensitive phenotype displayed by H. pylori HP1327 and HP1328 mutants provides strong evidence that the HP1326 protein, together with the signal peptide site of the H. pylori-specific protein HP1327, whose gene is located downstream from that encoding HP1326, and the CzcB and CzcA metal efflux system component homologs HP1328 and HP1329, constitutes a novel type of copper efflux pump, as discussed below. The HP1329 gene could not be inactivated, but the 14-fold transcriptional copper induction determined by RNA profiling points towards a function of the encoded CzcA homolog in copper resistance. In summary, results from RNA profiling identified the novel H. pylori-specific copper resistance determinants CrdA (HP1326) and CrdB (HP1327), which are required for adaptation to copper-rich environmental conditions.

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