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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2005, p. 716-728, Vol. 187, No. 2
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.2.716-728.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The bldC Developmental Locus of Streptomyces coelicolor Encodes a Member of a Family of Small DNA-Binding Proteins Related to the DNA-Binding Domains of the MerR Family

Alison C. Hunt ,{dagger},{ddagger} Luis Servín-González,{dagger},§ Gabriella H. Kelemen, and Mark J. Buttner*

Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

Received 9 September 2004/ Accepted 1 October 2004

The bldC locus, required for formation of aerial hyphae in Streptomyces coelicolor, was localized by map-based cloning to the overlap between cosmids D17 and D25 of a minimal ordered library. Subcloning and sequencing showed that bldC encodes a member of a previously unrecognized family of small (58- to 78-residue) DNA-binding proteins, related to the DNA-binding domains of the MerR family of transcriptional activators. BldC family members are found in a wide range of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Constructed {Delta}bldC mutants were defective in differentiation and antibiotic production. They failed to form an aerial mycelium on minimal medium and showed severe delays in aerial mycelium formation on rich medium. In addition, they failed to produce the polyketide antibiotic actinorhodin, and bldC was shown to be required for normal and sustained transcription of the pathway-specific activator gene actII-orf4. Although {Delta}bldC mutants produced the tripyrrole antibiotic undecylprodigiosin, transcripts of the pathway-specific activator gene (redD) were reduced to almost undetectable levels after 48 h in the bldC mutant, in contrast to the bldC+ parent strain in which redD transcription continued during aerial mycelium formation and sporulation. This suggests that bldC may be required for maintenance of redD transcription during differentiation. bldC is expressed from a single promoter. S1 nuclease protection assays and immunoblotting showed that bldC is constitutively expressed and that transcription of bldC does not depend on any of the other known bld genes. The bldC18 mutation that originally defined the locus causes a Y49C substitution that results in instability of the protein.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom. Phone: (44) (0)1603 450759. Fax: (44) (0)1603 450778. E-mail: mark.buttner{at}bbsrc.ac.uk.

{dagger} A.C.H. and L.S.-G. contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} Present address: Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RE, United Kingdom.

§ Present address: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria DF 04510, México.

Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2005, p. 716-728, Vol. 187, No. 2
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.2.716-728.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Haiser, H. J., Karginov, F. V., Hannon, G. J., Elliot, M. A. (2008). Developmentally regulated cleavage of tRNAs in the bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. Nucleic Acids Res 36: 732-741 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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