This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fiocco, D.
Right arrow Articles by Spano, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Fiocco, D.
Right arrow Articles by Spano, G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1688-1694, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01551-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Lactobacillus plantarum ftsH Gene Is a Novel Member of the CtsR Stress Response Regulon {triangledown}

Daniela Fiocco,1 Michael Collins,2 Lidia Muscariello,3 Pascal Hols,4 Michiel Kleerebezem,5,6 Tarek Msadek,2 and Giuseppe Spano1*

Department of Food Science, Foggia University, via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia,1 Department of Environmental Science, Second University of Naples, Via Vivaldi, 43 81100 Caserta, Italy,3 Institut Pasteur, Biology of Gram Positive Pathogens, Department of Microbiology, CNRS URA2172, 25 Rue Du Dr. Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France,2 Unité de Génétique, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut des Sciences de la Vie (ISV), B-1348-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium,4 Laboratory of Microbiology, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 10, 6703 HB Wageningen,5 NIZO Food Research, P.O. Box 20 BV, 6710 BA Ede, The Netherlands6

Received 31 October 2008/ Accepted 3 December 2008

FtsH proteins have dual chaperone-protease activities and are involved in protein quality control under stress conditions. Although the functional role of FtsH proteins has been clearly established, the regulatory mechanisms controlling ftsH expression in gram-positive bacteria remain largely unknown. Here we show that ftsH of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 is transiently induced at the transcriptional level upon a temperature upshift. In addition, disruption of ftsH negatively affected the growth of L. plantarum at high temperatures. Sequence analysis and mapping of the ftsH transcriptional start site revealed a potential operator sequence for the CtsR repressor, partially overlapping the –35 sequence of the ftsH promoter. In order to verify whether CtsR is able to recognize and bind the ftsH promoter, CtsR proteins of Bacillus subtilis and L. plantarum were overproduced, purified, and used in DNA binding assays. CtsR from both species bound specifically to the ftsH promoter, generating a single protein-DNA complex, suggesting that CtsR may control the expression of L. plantarum ftsH. In order to confirm this hypothesis, a {Delta}ctsR mutant strain of L. plantarum was generated. Expression of ftsH in the {Delta}ctsR mutant strain was strongly upregulated, indicating that ftsH of L. plantarum is negatively controlled by CtsR. This is the first example of an ftsH gene controlled by the CtsR repressor, and the first of the low-G+C gram-positive bacteria where the regulatory mechanism has been identified.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Food Science, Foggia University, via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia, Italy. Phone: 39 (0) 881 589303. Fax: 39 (0) 881 740211. E-mail: g.spano{at}unifg.it

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 12 December 2008.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2009, p. 1688-1694, Vol. 191, No. 5
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01551-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»