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J. Bacteriol., 11 1996, 6508-6517, Vol 178, No. 22
N Dover, CF Higgins, O Carmel, A Rimon, E Pinner and E Padan
nhaA encodes an Na+/H+ antiporter in Escherichia coli which is essential
for adaptation to high salinity and alkaline pH in the presence of Na+. We
used Northern (RNA) analysis to measure directly the cellular levels of
nhaA mRNA. NhaR belongs to the LysR family of regulatory proteins.
Consistent with our previous data with an nhaA'- 'lacZ fusion, NhaR was
found to be a positive regulator and Na+ was found to be a specific inducer
of nhaA transcription. In the nhaA'- 'lacZ fusion, maximal induction was
observed at alkaline pH. In contrast, in the nhaA+ strain both the level of
nhaA expression and the induction ratio were lower at alkaline pH. This
difference may be due to the activity of NhaA in the wild-type strain as
NhaA efficiently excreted Na+ at alkaline pH and reduced the intracellular
concentration of Na+, the signal for induction. We also showed that
although the global regulator rpoS was not involved in nhaA regulation, the
global regulator hns played a role. Thus, the expression of nhaA'-'lacZ was
derepressed in strains bearing hns mutations and transformation with a
low-copy-number plasmid carrying hns repressed expression and restored Na+
induction. The derepression in hns strains was nhaR independent. Most
interestingly, multicopy nhaR, which in an hns+ background acted only as an
Na+-dependent positive regulator, acted as a repressor in an hns strain in
the absence of Na+ but was activated in the presence of the ion. Hence, an
interplay between nhaR and hns in the regulation of nhaA was suggested.
Copyright © 1996, American Society for Microbiology
Na+-induced transcription of nhaA, which encodes an Na+/H+ antiporter in Escherichia coli, is positively regulated by nhaR and affected by hns
Division of Microbial and Molecular Ecology, Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
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