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J. Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01827-06
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

The orphan response regulator HP1021 of Helicobacter pylori regulates transcription of a gene cluster presumably involved in acetone metabolism

Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften, Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg; and Max-Planck-Institut für Infektionsbiologie, Microarray Core Facility, Abteilung Molekulare Biologie, Schumannstrasse 21/22, D-10117 Berlin, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: d.beier{at}biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de.

	Abstract

Helicobacter pylori is a gastric pathogen for which no nonhuman reservoir is known. In accordance with the tight adaptation to its unique habitat, the human stomach, H. pylori is endowed with a very restricted repertoire of regulatory proteins. Nevertheless, the three complete two-component systems of H. pylori were shown to be involved in the regulation of important virulence traits like motility and acid resistance and in the control of metal homeostasis. HP1021 is an orphan response regulator with an atypical receiver domain whose inactivation has a considerable impact on the growth of H. pylori. Here we report the identification of HP1021 regulated genes by whole genome transcriptional profiling. We show that the transcription of the essential housekeeping genes nifS and nifU which are required for the assembly of Fe-S clusters is activated by HP1021. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the expression of a gene cluster comprising the ORFs hp0690-hp0693 and hp0695-hp0697 which is probably involved in acetone metabolism is strongly upregulated by HP1021. Evidence is provided for a direct regulation of the hp0695-hp0697 operon by the binding of HP1021 to its promoter region.