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Volume 153, Issue 12

Regulation of the , and genes by the iron-starvation sigma factor PvdS under reduced levels of oxygen Free

Abstract

The level of environmental oxygen (EO) within various infection sites is low (microaerobic), and this can affect the production of different virulence factors. Expression of the gene, encoding exotoxin A (ETA), is regulated by , and . Moreover, the iron-starvation sigma factor PvdS directs the transcription of pyoverdine siderophore genes (e.g. ). DNA–protein binding analysis using recombinant PvdS showed that the PvdS–RNA polymerase holoenzyme complex specifically bound the , and promoter regions. All three promoters contain a PvdS-binding site, the iron-starvation box. To determine the relationship between these different genes and PvdS, we conducted a comparative analysis of , , and transcription throughout the growth cycle of wild-type and its mutant in iron-deficient medium under aerobic-shaking (A-sh) and microaerobic-static (M-st) conditions. Under both EO conditions, optimal , and expression and pyoverdine production required PvdS, while expression was moderately dependent on PvdS only under A-sh conditions. Expression of , and pyoverdine production in wild-type was significantly lower under M-st in comparison with A-sh conditions, while the opposite was observed for and . Although low, the level of expression and ETA production in the mutant were higher under M-st than under A-sh conditions. Transcription of and PvdS expression were also reduced by low EO. We propose that the regulation of expression under aerobic conditions primarily involves PvdS, while an additional EO-responsive regulator(s) besides PvdS is required under low EO levels. Thus, PvdS may control the transcription of the , and genes, and respond to EO by acting at different levels of the regulatory cascade.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Revised:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): A-sh, aerobic shaking conditions (∼ 21 % O2) , EMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assay(s) , EO, environmental oxygen , ETA, exotoxin A , IS box, iron-starvation box and M-st, microaerobic static conditions (∼10 % O2)
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2007-12-01
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Regulation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa toxA, regA and ptxR genes by the iron-starvation sigma factor PvdS under reduced levels of oxygen
Microbiology 153, 4219 (2007); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.2007/011338-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.2007/011338-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.2007/011338-0
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