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Volume 152, Issue 10

The locus positively regulates type 5 capsule via an -dependent pathway Free

Abstract

Most clinical strains produce either type 5 or type 8 capsular polysaccharides. The production of these capsules is influenced by various environmental factors. To study the regulation of capsule, Tn transposon mutagenesis and transcriptional reporter gene fusion were employed to identify several putative regulatory loci that influenced capsule gene expression. One of these, the locus, was chosen for further analysis. Tn was found to insert within the coding region (near the translational start site of the gene). ArlR, along with ArlS, forms a two-component system that has been previously shown to affect autolysis and production of several secreted proteins. Phenotypic analyses of the -specific mutant and gene fusion analyses showed that activated capsule production at the transcriptional level. However, gel mobility shift assays did not support activation of the capsule genes by direct ArlR binding to the primary promoter region upstream of the operon. In contrast, it was found that activated , an activator for capsule production, whereas did not have a significant effect on . Genetic studies supported the notion that functions upstream of with respect to the regulation of capsule production, although gene fusion studies indicated that could also regulate capsule independently from . Collectively, the results suggest that positively regulates capsule production at the transcriptional level primarily through an -dependent pathway.

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  • Accepted:
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Keyword(s): CP, capsular polysaccharide
SGM
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2006-10-01
2024-04-18
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The arl locus positively regulates Staphylococcus aureus type 5 capsule via an mgrA-dependent pathway
Microbiology 152, 3123 (2006); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.29177-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.29177-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.29177-0
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