IDENTIFICATION OF BTR-REGULATED GENES USING A TITRATION ASSAY - SEARCH FOR A ROLE FOR THIS TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATOR IN THE GROWTH AND VIRULENCE OF BORDETELLA-PERTUSSIS
Ge. Wood et al., IDENTIFICATION OF BTR-REGULATED GENES USING A TITRATION ASSAY - SEARCH FOR A ROLE FOR THIS TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATOR IN THE GROWTH AND VIRULENCE OF BORDETELLA-PERTUSSIS, Gene, 209(1-2), 1998, pp. 51-58
Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of the respiratory disease
pertussis or whooping cough. Btr, an oxygen-responsive transcriptiona
l regulator of B. pertussis, is homologous to the FNR protein of E. co
il. Using a murine respiratory model, we observed in the present study
that Btr is important in growth and survival of B. pertussis in vivo.
A titration assay was developed that identified genes containing Btr
binding sites including B. pertussis sodB and btr, E. coli aspA and a
new B. pertussis gene, brg1. The brg1 gene encodes a protein similar t
o the LysR family of transcriptional regulators, and its expression is
activated threefold by Btr under anaerobic growth conditions but unaf
fected by Btr aerobically. The nucleotide sequence flanking bl gl enco
des proteins with similarity to various metabolic enzymes. Putative ov
erlapping promoters and a Btr binding site (FNR box) were identified i
n the DNA sequence between brg1 and the adjacent genes. These interven
ing sequences may represent sites for regulation by Btr and Brg1. (C)
1998 Elsevier Science B.V.