This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Williams, C. L.
Right arrow Articles by Cotter, P. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Williams, C. L.
Right arrow Articles by Cotter, P. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2007, p. 1974-1982, Vol. 189, No. 5
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01684-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Autoregulation Is Essential for Precise Temporal and Steady-State Regulation by the Bordetella BvgAS Phosphorelay{triangledown}

Corinne L. Williams and Peggy A. Cotter*

Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9610

Received 31 October 2006/ Accepted 30 November 2006

The Bordetella BvgAS virulence control system is prototypical of phosphorelays that use a polydomain sensor and a response regulator to control gene expression in response to environmental cues. BvgAS controls the expression of at least three distinct phenotypic phases (Bvg–, Bvgi, and Bvg+) by differentially regulating the expression of at least four classes of genes. Among the loci regulated by BvgAS is bvgAS itself. We investigated the role of autoregulation in the ability of BvgAS to control multiple gene expression patterns in a temporal and steady-state manner by constructing Bordetella bronchiseptica strains in which the bvgAS promoter was replaced with constitutively active promoters. Our results show that positive autoregulation of bvgAS transcription is required for the temporal expression of multiple phenotypic phases that occurs in response to a shift from Bvg–-phase conditions to Bvg+-phase conditions. Autoregulation was also shown to contribute to steady-state regulation; it influences the sensitivity of the system in response to subtle differences in signal intensity. In addition, considered in relation to BvgA and BvgS activities demonstrated in vitro, our results provide insight into how BvgA and BvgS function mechanistically.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9610. Phone: (805) 893-5176. Fax: (805) 893-4724. E-mail: cotter{at}lifesci.ucsb.edu.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 December 2006.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2007, p. 1974-1982, Vol. 189, No. 5
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01684-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Miyashiro, T., Goulian, M. (2008). High stimulus unmasks positive feedback in an autoregulated bacterial signaling circuit. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 17457-17462 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»