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Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 577-584, Vol. 181, No. 2
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Escherichia coli RcsA, a Positive Activator of Colanic Acid Capsular Polysaccharide Synthesis, Functions To Activate Its Own Expression

Wolfgang Ebeldagger and Janine E. Trempy*

Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331-3804

Received 4 June 1998/Accepted 6 November 1998

Capsule (cps) gene expression in Escherichia coli is controlled by a complex network of regulators. Transcription of the cps operon is controlled by at least two positive regulators, RcsA and RcsB. We show here that RcsA functions to activate its own expression, as seen by the 100-fold-increased expression of a rcsA::lacZ transcriptional fusion in strains with high levels of RcsA protein, either due to a mutation in lon or due to overexpression of RcsA from a multicopy plasmid. Expression of the rcsA::lacZ fusion is increased by but not dependent on the presence of RcsB. In addition, the effects of H-NS and RcsB on the expression of rcsA are independent of each other. A sequence motif, conserved between the E. coli cps promoter and the Erwinia amylovora ams promoter and previously shown to be the RcsA-RcsB binding site, was identified in the rcsA promoter region and shown to be required for high-level expression of rcsA.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Nash Hall 220, Corvallis, OR 97331-3804. Phone: (541) 737-4441. Fax: (541) 737-0496. E-mail: trempyj{at}bcc.orst.edu.

dagger Present address: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 577-584, Vol. 181, No. 2
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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