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Journal of Bacteriology, December 2008, p. 7859-7863, Vol. 190, No. 23
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00714-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SigF Controls Carotenoid Pigment Production and Affects Transformation Efficiency and Hydrogen Peroxide Sensitivity in Mycobacterium smegmatis ^,

Roberta Provvedi,¹ Dana Kocíncová,^2,3, Valentina Donà,⁴ Daniel Euphrasie,³ Mamadou Daffé,⁵ Gilles Etienne,⁵ Riccardo Manganelli,⁴ and Jean-Marc Reyrat^2,3*

Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Padova, Padua, Italy,¹ Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes,² INSERM, U570, Paris Cedex 15, F-75730 France,³ Dipartimento di Istologia, Microbiologia e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università di Padova, Padua, Italy,⁴ Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Unité Mixte de Recherche du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et de l'Université Paul Sabatier (UMR5089), Departement Mécanismes Moléculaires des Infections Mycobactériennes, Toulouse cedex 04, France⁵

Received 21 May 2008/ Accepted 11 September 2008

Carotenoids are complex lipids that are known for acting against photodynamic injury and free radicals. We demonstrate here that ^F is required for carotenoid pigment production in Mycobacterium smegmatis. We further show that a sigF mutant exhibits a transformation efficiency 10⁴-fold higher than that of the parental strain, suggesting that ^F regulates the production of components affecting cell wall permeability. In addition, a sigF mutant showed an increased sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide. An in silico search of the M. smegmatis genome identified a number of SigF consensus sites, including sites upstream of the carotenoid synthesis locus, which explains its SigF regulation.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Inserm-UMR570, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, 156 rue de Vaugirard, Paris Cedex 15, F-75730, France. Phone: 33 (0)1 40 61 53 79. Fax: 33 (0)1 40 61 56 77. E-mail: jean-marc.reyrat{at}nserm.fr

Published ahead of print on 19 September 2008.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Present address: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.

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Journal of Bacteriology, December 2008, p. 7859-7863, Vol. 190, No. 23
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00714-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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