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Journal of Bacteriology, January 2008, p. 487-493, Vol. 190, No. 2
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JB.01510-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Lehrstuhl für Biologie der Mikroorganismen, Fakultät für Biologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
Received 19 September 2007/ Accepted 25 October 2007
Rhodobacter capsulatus can efficiently grow with taurine as the sole sulfur source. The products of the tpa-tauR-xsc gene region are essential for this activity. TauR, a MocR-like member of the GntR superfamily of transcriptional regulators, activates tpa transcription, as shown by analysis of wild-type and tauR mutant strains carrying a tpa-lacZ reporter fusion. Activation of the tpa promoter requires taurine but is not inhibited by sulfate, which is the preferred sulfur source. TauR directly binds to the tpa promoter, as demonstrated by DNA mobility shift assays. As expected for a transcriptional activator, the TauR binding site is located upstream of the transcription start site, which has been determined by primer extension. Site-directed promoter mutations reveal that TauR binds to direct repeats, an unusual property that has to date been shown for only one other member of the MocR subfamily, namely, GabR from Bacillus subtilis. In contrast, all other members of the GntR family analyzed so far bind to inverted repeats.
Published ahead of print on 2 November 2007.
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