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Volume 156, Issue 10

Activation of the latent PlcR regulon in Free

Abstract

Many genes in and are under the control of the transcriptional regulator PlcR and its regulatory peptide, PapR. In , the causative agent of anthrax, PlcR is inactivated by truncation, and consequently genes having PlcR binding sites are expressed at very low levels when compared with . We found that activation of the PlcR regulon in by expression of a PlcR–PapR fusion protein does not alter sporulation in strains containing the virulence plasmid pXO1 and thereby the global regulator AtxA. Using comparative 2D gel electrophoresis, we showed that activation of the PlcR regulon in leads to upregulation of many proteins found in the secretome of , including phospholipases and proteases, such as the putative protease BA1995. Transcriptional analysis demonstrated expression of BA1995 to be dependent on PlcR–PapR, even though the putative PlcR recognition site of the BA1995 gene does not exactly match the PlcR consensus sequence, explaining why this protein had escaped recognition as belonging to the PlcR regulon. Additionally, while transcription of major PlcR-dependent haemolysins, sphingomyelinase and anthrolysin O is enhanced in response to PlcR activation in , only anthrolysin O contributes significantly to lysis of human erythrocytes. In contrast, the toxicity of bacterial culture supernatants from a PlcR-positive strain towards murine macrophages occurred independently of anthrolysin O expression and .

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): BMDMs, bone marrow-derived macrophages , LF, lethal factor , LT, lethal toxin and PA, protective antigen
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2010-10-01
2024-04-24
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Activation of the latent PlcR regulon in Bacillus anthracis
Microbiology 156, 2982 (2010); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.041418-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.041418-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.041418-0
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