Lm. Schechter et Ca. Lee, AraC/XylS family members, HilC and HilD, directly bind and derepress the Salmonella typhimurium hilA promoter, MOL MICROB, 40(6), 2001, pp. 1289-1299
During infection, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium colonizes the sma
ll intestine of its hosts. This process requires a type III secretion syste
m encoded by several genes on Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1), a 4
0 kb region of DNA near centisome 63 of the Salmonella chromosome. SPI1 gen
e expression is controlled by a complex regulatory cascade. HilA, a member
of the OmpR/ToxR family of transcriptional regulators, directly activates t
he expression of two SPI1 operons encoding type III apparatus components. h
ilA transcription is repressed by many environmental conditions and regulat
ory mutations. This repression requires an upstream repressing sequence (UR
S) located between -314 and -68 relative to the hilA transcription start si
te. The repressing activity of the URS is counteracted by two AraC/XylS fam
ily members named HilC and HilD. We show that HilC and HilD bind directly t
o the hilA promoter region in vitro. We also provide evidence that HilC and
HilD bind to the same or overlapping sites within the URS. Our data are co
nsistent with a model in which HilC and HilD derepress hilA expression by b
inding directly to the URS and counteracting its repressing effect in vivo.