R. Gardan et al., EXPRESSION OF THE ROCDEF OPERON INVOLVED IN ARGININE CATABOLISM IN BACILLUS-SUBTILIS, Journal of Molecular Biology, 249(5), 1995, pp. 843-856
Three genes called rocD, rocE and rocF were found near the rocR gene i
n B. subtilis. The product of rocD is similar to eukaryotic ornithine
aminotransferases. The product of rocE shares similarity with the prod
uct of B. subtilis rocC and with the product of E. coli lysP. The rocE
gene may encode an arginine permease. The rocF gene encodes a polypep
tide similar to several arginases. Heterologous expression in E. coli
indicated that rocD encodes an ornithine aminotransferase and that roc
F encodes an arginase. Arginine utilization was abolished in both rocD
and rocF mutants of B. subtilis confirming the role of these genes in
arginine catabolism. The rocDEF genes form an operon transcribed from
a -12, -24 promoter almost identical to the -12, -24 promoter of the
rocABC operon. The expression of the rocDEF operon was induced by the
presence of arginine, ornithine or proline in the growth medium and de
pended on the presence of the sigma factor SigL. Transcription of this
operon was also abolished in a B. subtilis strain containing a null m
utation in the regulatory gene rocR. Two tandemly repeated upstream ac
tivating sequences very similar to those previously identified in the
rocABC system were found centered at positions -120 and -70, respectiv
ely, upstream from the transcription start site of rocDEF. Deletion an
alysis showed that at least one upstream activating sequence is involv
ed in the expression of the rocDEF operon. These sequences are probabl
y the target of RocR. Analysis of a rocR'-'lacZ fusion strain showed t
hat the expression of rocR is not induced by arginine and is negativel
y autoregulated.