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Journal of Bacteriology, May 2006, p. 3622-3630, Vol. 188, No. 10
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.188.10.3622-3630.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cation-Induced Transcriptional Regulation of the dlt Operon of Staphylococcus aureus

Inflammation Program,¹ Departments of Microbiology,² Internal Medicine, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa,³ Veterans Administration Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa 52242,⁴ The University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia,⁵ Laboratoire des Listeria, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France,⁶ Cellular and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University Hospitals Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany⁷

Received 24 October 2005/ Accepted 8 March 2006

Lipoteichoic and wall teichoic acids (TA) are highly anionic cell envelope-associated polymers containing repeating polyglycerol/ribitol phosphate moieties. Substitution of TA with D-alanine is important for modulation of many cell envelope-dependent processes, such as activity of autolytic enzymes, binding of divalent cations, and susceptibility to innate host defenses. D-Alanylation of TA is diminished when bacteria are grown in medium containing increased NaCl concentrations, but the effects of increased salt concentration on expression of the dlt operon encoding proteins mediating D-alanylation of TA are unknown. We demonstrate that Staphylococcus aureus transcriptionally represses dlt expression in response to high concentrations of Na⁺ and moderate concentrations of Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ but not sucrose. Changes in dlt mRNA are induced within 15 min and sustained for several generations of growth. Mg²⁺-induced dlt repression depends on the ArlSR two-component system. Northern blotting, reverse transcription-PCR, and SMART-RACE analyses suggest that the dlt transcript begins 250 bp upstream of the dltA start codon and includes an open reading frame immediately upstream of dltA. Chloramphenicol transacetylase transcriptional fusions indicate that a region encompassing the 171 to 325 bp upstream of dltA is required for expression and Mg²⁺-induced repression of the dlt operon in S. aureus.

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