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Journal of Bacteriology, May 1999, p. 3288-3292, Vol. 181, No. 10
Institut für Mikrobiologie,
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
Received 7 December 1998/Accepted 15 March 1999
The The lactose utilization system of
Escherichia coli encoded by the well-known lac
operon serves as a paradigm for regulated gene expression in bacteria
(reviewed in reference 20). Investigations of
lac regulation provided deep insights into gene regulation mechanisms enabling bacteria to respond to changing concentrations of
metabolizable compounds. Usually, sugar utilization systems are subject
to carbon catabolite repression, the mechanism of which is clearly
different in bacilli and enteric bacteria, as no cyclic AMP and cyclic
AMP receptor protein homologue was found in Bacillus species
(2, 32). Carbon catabolite repression in bacilli and other
gram-positive bacteria is mediated by negative regulation (for reviews,
see references 13 and 22).
Studying Bacillus subtilis mutants relieved from catabolite
repression led to the identification of cis-acting
catabolite-responsive elements (CRE) (27) and a gene
encoding the corresponding trans-acting catabolite control
protein CcpA (12), a member of the GalR/LacI family of
negative transcriptional regulators (28).
Recently, it has been shown that the Cloning and characterization of the
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Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Regulation of
-Galactosidase Expression in Bacillus
megaterium DSM319 by a XylS/AraC-Type Transcriptional
Activator
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ABSTRACT
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Abstract
Text
References
-galactosidase-encoding bgaM gene of
Bacillus megaterium DSM319 and the divergently orientated
bgaR operon were isolated and sequenced. Both traits are
subject to catabolite repression. A set of single-gene replacement
mutants was generated and used to analyze gene function. BgaR was found
to be a XylS/AraC-type positive transcriptional regulator of
bgaM; a potential regulator binding site overlaps the
bgaM promoter. A mechanism for regulation of
-galactosidase expression in B. megaterium is proposed.
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TEXT
Top
Abstract
Text
References
-galactosidase-encoding
mbgA gene of Bacillus megaterium ATCC 14581 is
subject to catabolite repression. However, little is known for B. megaterium about genetics of
-galactosidase induction by
-galactosides such as lactose (25). Here, we report on
the isolation and characterization of the lactose utilization gene of
B. megaterium DSM319 (bgaM) and its positive
regulation by a XylS/AraC-type transcriptional regulator encoded by the
bgaR gene located immediately upstream with a polarity
opposite to that of bgaM.
-galactosidase and its
regulator.
Bacterial strains, plasmids, and phage vectors used in
this study are listed in Table 1. A
-EMBL4-based genomic library of B. megaterium
DSM319 (18) was used for cloning the
-galactosidase-encoding region. The lac-negative E. coli strain JM107 was infected and plated on
5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-
-D-galactopyranoside
(X-Gal)-containing medium. Positive clones were obtained as blue
plaques. Subcloning a 6.8-kb internal XbaI fragment into
plasmid vector pUCBM20 (pUCGal3 [Table 1]) gave rise to dark blue
colonies. Sequence analysis revealed four complete and two incomplete
open reading frames (ORFs) (Fig. 1).
TABLE 1.
Bacterial strains, bacteriophages, and plasmids used in
this study

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FIG. 1.
Schematic representation of the
-galactosidase-encoding genomic region of B. megaterium
DSM319 wild-type and mutant strains. ORFs are indicated as arrows, the
direction of which corresponds to transcription. Truncated ORFs are
represented by 4' and 5'. The same designation was chosen for genes
inactivated by insertional mutagenesis. Potential Rho-independent
terminators are marked by hairpins. bgaM,
-galactosidase
gene; bgaR, XylS/AraC-type regulator gene; bglM,
-1,3-1,4-glucanase gene of P. macerans; nprM,
neutral protease gene.
bgaR lacks 263 nt of the coding
region. Restriction enzymes are abbreviated as follows: A,
AflII; E, EcoRV; H, HincII; S,
SalI; X, XbaI. The positions of probes used in
Northern blot analyses are depicted from the top. Designations of
corresponding strains are indicated on the right side.
-galactosidases of
several bacteria, such as Clostridium acetobutylicum
(45% identity [11]), Streptococcus
thermophilus (40% [24]), E. coli (36% [15]), and Klebsiella
pneumoniae (36% [6]). The recently published
sequence of the
-galactosidase of B. megaterium ATCC 14581 is almost identical (97% [25]).
Accordingly, as for strain ATCC 14581, disruption of the
chromosomal copy by insertional mutagenesis resulted in a
-galactosidase-deficient strain (MS981 [Fig. 1]). The gene was
disrupted by applying a previously established single-copy replacement
system (29). For insertional mutagenesis of bgaM,
the following steps were performed. A 3.14-kb HindIII fragment of plasmid pUCGal3 was cloned into
HindIII-digested pUCTV2, resulting in pUCGalD. As the
insert, a 2.38-kb chromosomal fragment containing the entire
nprM gene of B. megaterium (18) was
amplified with oligonucleotides
5'-GTTTTTATCAGTCGACTTGAAGAATTATT-3' and 5'-GTAATGAAGTCGACCCAGTTTCCCTTTTATTAC-3', cut with
SalI, and ligated to SalI-digested pUCGalD; the
resulting disruption vector was designated pDGal2. The genetic
organization of the bgaM mutant strain MS981 is outlined in
Fig. 1.
The polypeptide (275 aa) predicted for the divergently orientated locus
bgaR exhibits obvious similarities to members of the XylS/AraC family of regulators. Within the highly conserved C terminus
is situated the family profile, spanning aa 173 to 272 (entry PS01124
in PROSITE database). As for other XylS/AraC proteins, which are in
most cases approximately 250 to 300 aa in size, the polypeptide has two
helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motifs located within the family profile.
Furthermore, the gene has a polarity opposite to that of the trait that
is regulated as frequently observed for members of this family, the
vast majority of which are positive transcriptional regulators
(reviewed in references 9 and
10).
Gene products of ORF2, ORF3 (158 and 160 aa), and ORF5 resemble
hypothetical proteins of B. subtilis (16). The
deduced amino acid sequence of truncated ORF4 was found to contain an
ATP-binding cassette transporter family signature (for a review, see
reference 23).
Two potential Rho-independent transcriptional terminators were
identified downstream of bgaM and ORF2, respectively (Fig. 1), and two overlapping CRE were found within the short intergenic region (129 nucleotides [nt]) of the
-galactosidase gene and bgaR (see Fig. 3).
Construction of bgaR and ORF2 mutant strains.
-Galactosidase expression in B. megaterium is subject to
catabolite repression mediated by cis-acting CRE and the
CcpA protein (25) but is in addition inducible by
-galactosides (Fig. 2A) (17). Because of the similarities of BgaR to XylS/AraC
transcriptional regulators, it was tempting to disrupt the gene and
thereby determine its function in
-galactosidase expression. We
applied the already-mentioned gene replacement system
(29) to generate a set of B. megaterium mutants, the genetic structures of which are schematically
presented in Fig. 1. A bgaR mutant strain, MS970, was
generated by using the pUCTV2 derivative pDbgaR containing a 1.76-kb
chromosomal fragment amplified with oligonucleotides
5'-CCATGACGGAATTCCCCAGCTG-3' and
5'-GAAGTTATATCGAATTCAGCTGGAG-3'; in addition, it carries the
-1,3-1,4-glucanase gene (bglM) of Paenibacillus
macerans (5), which was amplified from plasmid pBCmac
with oligonucleotides 5'-ACCCAGGTAAAAGCTTCCAACACCG-3' and
5'-GGACTAAAAAGCTTATGCCCAGCTGC-3'. The glucanase gene was
subsequently ligated into the EcoRV site of the
bgaR locus. Since we could not exclude a polar effect of the
integrated bglM gene on expression of ORF2, which appeared to be part of the bgaR transcriptional unit (Fig. 2B), we
also generated a bgaR deletion mutant (MS971 in Fig. 1).
Deletion was achieved with vector pD2bgaR, which carries the
above-mentioned bgaR locus, from which 263 nt between
HincII and EcoRV was removed.
|
Comparative analysis of wild-type and mutant strains.
The role
of bgaR and ORF2 in regulation of
-galactosidase
expression was examined by measuring
-galactosidase activities in
wild-type and mutant strains. Strains were grown in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium to which sugars were added during mid-log phase.
Samples were collected after cultivation for an additional hour and
assayed for
-galactosidase activity by measuring hydrolysis of the
chromogenic substrate
o-nitrophenyl-
-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG) at
31°C (21).
-galactosidase. As
for the wild-type B. megaterium DSM319, lactose caused a
clear increase in
-galactosidase activity in the
ORF2::bglM mutant MS972. Thus, the predicted ORF2
polypeptide does not play a crucial role in
-galactosidase
induction. In contrast, both bgaR mutants, MS970 and MS971,
completely lack inducibility. However, inducibility was restored when
the amplified bgaR gene
(5'-TATGACCTAGATAAAACCCG-3' and
5'-CTCATTTCTAGAGTATTAGGTTATTAG-3') was
integrated into the SmaI site of pSVB2 (30)
and introduced into mutants (data not shown).
To confirm the influence of the bgaR gene product on
transcription of bgaM, both the deletion mutant MS971 and
the wild-type strain DSM319 were subjected to comparative
Northern blot analyses. An internal 1.75-kb
HindIII/SalI fragment served as a
bgaM-specific probe. Additionally, for gathering
information on regulation of bgaR expression, we included a
bgaR-specific probe, synthesized by PCR
(5'-TATGACCTAGATAAAACCCG-3' and
5'-CTCATTTCTAGAGTATTAGGTTATTAG-3'). Both probes, positions
of which are indicated in Fig. 1, were digoxigenin labeled by in
vitro transcription with the digoxigenin RNA labeling kit
(Boehringer Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany). Total RNA from cultures grown
under the conditions described for enzyme assays was isolated
(30). Following gel electrophoresis in 1.5% (wt/vol)
formaldehyde agarose gels, Northern blot hybridization was carried out
at 55°C and chemiluminescence detection was performed (3).
The results of these experiments are shown in Fig. 2B.
As for DSM319, low-level transcription of the bgaM gene
occurs in MS971 in LB medium without any sugar added. Due to catabolite repression, bgaM transcripts were not detectable in cultures
supplied with glucose and lactose. However, addition of lactose caused a clear increase of bgaM transcription only on the wild-type
background. In the bgaR deletion mutant MS971, no
accumulation of bgaM transcripts occurred. These findings
correspond to those of the enzymatic assays summarized in Fig. 2A and
are in accordance with positive transcriptional regulation of
bgaM by BgaR.
In medium lacking glucose, bgaR transcription could readily
be observed in both the wild-type strain and mutant MS971 irrespective of lactose addition. As depicted in Fig. 2B, transcripts of the bgaR operon in mutant MS971 are shortened by approximately
300 nt, which accords well with the 263-bp deletion of bgaR.
Remarkably, transcription of bgaR is
as for
bgaM
also subject to catabolite repression; no transcript
was detected when glucose was added along with lactose.
Based on our results, we propose a model for regulation of
-galactosidase expression in B. megaterium as outlined in
Fig. 3. The transcriptional start point
(data not shown) as well as the structure of the bgaM gene
and its promoter region (Fig. 3) is almost identical to that published
for strain ATCC 14581. A 27-bp inverted repeat overlaps the
bgaM promoter containing two partially overlapping CRE. Base
substitutions within both overlapping CRE caused partial relief of
catabolite repression, and that is why it was suggested that the
inverted repeat may serve as the binding site for the catabolite
repressor proteins (25). The trans-acting
catabolite control protein CcpA is effective by binding to CRE, which
need not necessarily overlap the respective promoter but can be located
at a considerable distance upstream or downstream (14).
Thus, though we did not determine the transcriptional start of the
bgaR operon, the localization of the CRE within the intergenic region spanning only 129 nt probably facilitates negative regulation by CcpA of both the bgaM gene and the opposite
bgaR operon.
|
-galactosidase expression, we
searched for a putative BgaR regulator binding site within the
intergenic region of bgaM and bgaR. We identified
two imperfect direct repeats again in both DSM319 and ATCC 14581 (DR in
Fig. 3). As for the bgaM promoter, such sites for XylS/AraC
regulators proximal to the RNA polymerase binding region have been
found in most cases to overlap or abut the
35 region of the gene or operon that is regulated (10). Gel mobility shift assays
using purified bgaR gene products should help to elucidate
the role of these imperfect direct repeats in binding the regulator.
Regulation of
-galactosidase expression appears to be different in
B. subtilis. Besides catabolite repression by CcpA,
induction of enzyme expression was found to be negatively controlled by another repressor protein belonging to the LacI/GalR regulator family
(7).
To our knowledge, positive gene regulation of
-galactosidase
expression by a member of the XylS/AraC family has been reported only
for Staphylococcus xylosus, in which, however, formation of
the regulator is not subject to catabolite repression but is obviously
constitutive (1).
Catabolite repression of the regulator BgaR makes the B. megaterium genetic system controlling
-galactosidase expression extraordinarily economic and elegant likewise since it links synthesis of the transcriptional regulator to glucose consumption.
Nucleotide sequence accession number. The sequence of the 6.8-kb chromosomal XbaI fragment of B. megaterium DSM319 containing the genes bgaR and bgaM has been submitted to the EMBL database under accession no. AJ000733.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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J.S. was supported by grants from the Max-Buchner-Forschungsstiftung, Germany.
We thank R. Borriss for kindly providing plasmid pBCmac.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Mikrobiologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstr. 3, 48149 Münster, Germany. Phone: 49 251 83-39825. Fax: 49 251 83-38388. E-mail: meinhar{at}uni-muenster.de.
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