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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2008, p. 7241-7250, Vol. 190, No. 21
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00762-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Abundance Changes of the Response Regulator RcaC Require Specific Aspartate and Histidine Residues and Are Necessary for Normal Light Color Responsiveness{triangledown}

Lina Li{dagger} and David M. Kehoe*

Department of Biology, 1001 East Third Street, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405

Received 28 May 2008/ Accepted 19 August 2008

RcaC is a large, complex response regulator that controls transcriptional responses to changes in ambient light color in the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon. The regulation of RcaC activity has been shown previously to require aspartate 51 and histidine 316, which appear to be phosphorylation sites that control the DNA binding activity of RcaC. All available data suggest that during growth in red light, RcaC is phosphorylated and has relatively high DNA binding activity, while during growth in green light RcaC is not phosphorylated and has less DNA binding activity. RcaC has also been found to be approximately sixfold more abundant in red light than in green light. Here we demonstrate that the light-controlled abundance changes of RcaC are necessary, but not sufficient, to direct normal light color responses. RcaC abundance changes are regulated at both the RNA and protein levels. The RcaC protein is significantly less stable in green light than in red light, suggesting that the abundance of this response regulator is controlled at least in part by light color-dependent proteolysis. We provide evidence that the regulation of RcaC abundance does not depend on any RcaC-controlled process but rather depends on the presence of the aspartate 51 and histidine 316 residues that have previously been shown to control the activity of this protein. We propose that the combination of RcaC abundance changes and modification of RcaC by phosphorylation may be necessary to provide the dynamic range required for transcriptional control of RcaC-regulated genes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 E. Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405. Phone: (812) 856-4715. Fax: (812) 855-6705. E-mail: dkehoe{at}indiana.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 29 August 2008.

{dagger} Present address: School of Dentistry, CHS 20-118, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2008, p. 7241-7250, Vol. 190, No. 21
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00762-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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