CLONING AND INITIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BORDETELLA-PERTUSSIS FOR GENE

In several Gram-negative pathogens the fur (ferric uptake regulator) g ene product controls the expression of many genes involved in iron upt ake and virulence, To facilitate the study of iron-regulated gene expr ession in Bordetella pertussis, we cloned the fur gene from this organ ism. The B. pertussis fur gene product was 54% identical to the Escher ichia coli Fur and complemented two E. coli fur mutants. As with the E . coli fur gene, sequences upstream of the B. pertussis fur were homol ogous to the consensus Fur-binding site and to the consensus catabolit e activator protein binding site.