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Proteomic Identification of a Novel Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA Binding Protein That Regulates a Putative Transcription Factor ^,

Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210

Received 3 March 2007/ Accepted 20 April 2007

Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the etiologic agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis, is an obligatory intracellular bacterium. Little is known about the gene regulatory mechanisms for this bacterium. A gene encoding a putative transcription factor, tr1, upstream of three tandem genes encoding outer membrane proteins, including the major outer membrane protein P44, is driven by a strong promoter. In the present study, gel mobility shift assays revealed the presence of A. phagocytophilum proteins that interact with the promoter region of tr1. These proteins interacting with the tr1 promoter region were purified by biotin-labeled DNA affinity chromatography from a large amount of host cell-free bacteria. Mass spectrometry identified the major protein as an A. phagocytophilum 12.5-kDa hypothetical protein, which was named ApxR. In a DNase I protection assay, recombinant ApxR (rApxR) bound cooperatively to four 24- or 25-bp sites within 235 bp upstream of tr1: regions III and IV proximal to tr1 had higher affinity than regions I and II did. Deletion assays showed that regions III and IV were essential for rApxR binding, whereas regions I and II upstream of regions III and IV were not. The primary cis-acting region was region IV, since region IV alone was sufficient for rApxR to strongly transactivate the downstream gene in a lacZ reporter assay. Addition of regions I, II, and III did not enhance transactivation. These results show that ApxR is a novel transcriptional regulator that directly regulates tr1.

Published ahead of print on 4 May 2007.

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