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A Novel Three-Protein Two-Component System Provides a Regulatory Twist on an Established Circuit To Modulate Expression of the cbb_I Region of Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA010

Department of Microbiology and Plant Molecular Biology/Biotechnology Program, The Ohio State University, 484 West 12th Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43210-1292

Received 1 December 2005/ Accepted 20 January 2006

A novel two-component system has been identified in the cbb_I region of the nonsulfur purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Genes encoding this system, here designated cbbRRS, are juxtaposed between the divergently transcribed transcription activator gene, cbbR, and the form I ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) genes, cbbLS. The three genes of the cbbRRS system represent a variation of the well-known two-component signal transduction systems, as there are a transmembrane hybrid sensor kinase and two response regulators, with no apparent DNA binding domain associated with any of the three proteins encoded by these genes. In this study, we showed that the membrane-bound full-length kinase undergoes autophosphorylation and transfers phosphate to both response regulators. A soluble, truncated version of the kinase was subsequently prepared and found to catalyze phosphorylation of response regulator 1 but not response regulator 2, implying that conformational changes and/or sequence-specific regions of the kinase are important for discriminating between the two response regulators. Analyses indicated that a complex network of control of gene expression must occur, with CbbR required for the expression of the cbbLS genes but dispensable for the synthesis of form II RubisCO (encoded by cbbM). The CbbRRS proteins specifically affected the activity and accumulation of form I RubisCO (CbbLS), as revealed by analyses of nonpolar, unmarked gene deletions. A tentative model of regulation suggested that changes in the phosphotransfer activity of the sensor kinase, possibly in response to a redox metabolic signal, cause modulation of the activity and synthesis of form I RubisCO.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Romagnoli, S., Tabita, F. R. (2007). Phosphotransfer Reactions of the CbbRRS Three-Protein Two- Component System from Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA010 Appear To Be Controlled by an Internal Molecular Switch on the Sensor Kinase. J. Bacteriol. 189: 325-335 [Abstract] [Full Text]