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Journal of Bacteriology, September 2005, p. 6419-6429, Vol. 187, No. 18
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.18.6419-6429.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Regulation of Tryptophan Operon Expression in the Archaeon Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus

Yunwei Xie{dagger} and John N. Reeve*

Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210

Received 24 May 2005/ Accepted 7 July 2005

Conserved trp genes encode enzymes that catalyze tryptophan biosynthesis in all three biological domains, and studies of their expression in Bacteria and eukaryotes have revealed a variety of different regulatory mechanisms. The results reported here provide the first detailed description of an archaeal trp gene regulatory system. We have established that the trpEGCFBAD operon in Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus is transcribed divergently from a gene (designated trpY) that encodes a tryptophan-sensitive transcription regulator. TrpY binds to TRP box sequences (consensus, TGTACA) located in the overlapping promoter regions between trpY and trpE, inhibiting trpY transcription in the absence of tryptophan and both trpY and trpEGCFBAD transcription in the presence of tryptophan. TrpY apparently inhibits trpY transcription by blocking RNA polymerase access to the site of trpY transcription initiation and represses trpEGCFBAD transcription by preventing TATA box binding protein (TBP) binding to the TATA box sequence. Given that residue 2 (W2) is the only tryptophan in TrpY and in TrpY homologues in other Euryarchaea and that there is only one tryptophan codon in the entire trpEGCFBAD operon (trpB encodes W175), expression of the trp operon may also be regulated in vivo by the supply of charged tRNATrp available to translate the second codon of the trpY mRNA.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1292. Phone: (614) 292-2301. Fax: (614) 292-8120. E-mail: reeve.2{at}osu.edu.

{dagger} Present address: Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057.

Journal of Bacteriology, September 2005, p. 6419-6429, Vol. 187, No. 18
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.18.6419-6429.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Karr, E. A., Sandman, K., Lurz, R., Reeve, J. N. (2008). TrpY Regulation of trpB2 Transcription in Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus. J. Bacteriol. 190: 2637-2641 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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