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J. Bacteriol., 07 1996, 4224-4232, Vol 178, No. 14
CE Thomas and PF Sparling
The pathogenic Neisseria spp. produce a number of iron-regulated gene
products that are thought to be important in virulence. Iron-responsive
regulation of these gene products has been attributed to the presence in
Neisseria spp. of the Fur (ferric uptake regulation) protein. Evidence for
the role of Fur in neisserial iron regulation has been indirect because of
the inability to make fur null mutations. To circumvent this problem, we
used manganese selection to isolate missense mutations of Neisseria
gonorrhoeae fur. We show that a mutation in gonococcal fur resulted in
reduced modulation of expression of four well-studied iron-repressed genes
and affected the iron regulation of a broad range of other genes as judged
by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). All 15 of the
iron-repressed spots observed by two-dimensional PAGE were at least
partially derepressed in the fur mutant, and 17 of the 45 iron-induced
spots were affected by the fur mutation. Thus, Fur plays a central role in
regulation of iron-repressed gonococcal genes and appears to be involved in
regulation of many iron-induced genes. The size and complexity of the iron
regulons in N. gonorrhoeae are much greater than previously recognized.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
Isolation and analysis of a fur mutant of Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599, USA.
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