1887

Abstract

The RcsCDB phosphorelay was originally identified as the main regulator of colanic acid biosynthesis in K-12. However, recent transcriptomic analyses have identified more than 150 genes belonging to the Rcs regulon, including , , and . These genes are clustered on the genome and oriented in the same direction but their function remains unknown. In this work it is shown that , , and are transcribed as a single operon and it is confirmed that the expression of this operon is controlled by the Rcs phosphorelay, in a manner that is dependent on the auxiliary regulatory protein RcsA. Interestingly, Northern blot analysis revealed that the amount of transcripts in the cell is higher than the amount of transcripts and it is proposed that this differential expression is mediated by the presence of a strong stem–loop structure in the - intergenic region. Finally, evidence is provided that the overexpression of affects colony morphology and leads to the production of an extracellular polysaccharide that binds Congo red and toluidine blue-O.

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2007-04-01
2024-03-29
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