e., pBAD18) alone (Figure 1D). This was further supported by the observation that another CpxR-activated gene, spy, was induced by CacA protein overexpression (Figure 1C). Moreover, CacA likely acts on the CpxR/CpxA system specifically because expression of CacA did not affect genes under the direct control of other TCSs (data not shown). cacA transcription is activated by RpoS but repressed by RssB Next, we asked whether the cacA gene might be regulated by
an undefined upstream TCS. To examine candidate TCSs that could potentially affect cacA transcription, we constructed a strain with a cacA promoter-lac fusion 1 (i.e., P cacA -lac 1) at the pgtP locus on the Salmonella chromosome. Then, 33 RR mutant stocks were independently transduced into the P cacA -lac 1 strain by phage P22. Whereas most RR mutants exerted minor or no effects on transcription NVP-BGJ398 from the cacA promoter (data not shown, Figure 2A), the rssB mutant exhibited a ~1.5-fold increase in cacA promoter activity (Figure 2A). Because RssB is the adaptor protein that recruits RpoS to the ClpXP protease, Epigenetics inhibitor we examined the effect of a ΔrpoS mutant on transcription from the cacA promoter. As expected, the rpoS gene was required for cacA expression (Figures 2A and 2B). Consistent with these observations, an alignment of
the cacA promoter regions from Salmonella and its related enteric species revealed a conserved sequence that is present in an RpoS-dependent consensus -10 region sequence (CTA cac T from -13 to -7) [29] (Figure 3A). Figure 2 Transcription of the cacA gene is activated by RpoS but repressed by RssB. A. all β-galactosidase activity from a PcacA-lac transcriptional fusion 1 in the wild-type (−; AK1056), ΔcpxR mutant (AK1063), phoP mutant (AK1064), ΔrssB mutant (AK1065), and ΔrpoS mutant (AK1066) strains. Bacteria were grown for 4 h in LB before β-galactosidase activity was
measured (U0126 in vivo Miller units). The data correspond to the means of two independent experiments performed in duplicate, and the error bars represent standard deviations. B. β-galactosidase activity from PcacA-lac transcriptional fusion 1 or 2 in a wild-type strain (−; AK1056 or AK1067) and a ΔrpoS mutant strain (AK1059 or AK1071). Note that the PcacA-lac 1 strain contains a DNA fragment encompassing the 3’ region (80 bp) of STM1851 and the intergenic region (110 bp) between STM1851 and cacA, whereas the PcacA-lac 2 strain harbors only the intergenic region (110 bp) between STM1851 and cacA preceding the lacZ gene (See Methods). Bacteria were grown for 4 h in LB before β-galactosidase activity was measured (arbitrary units) as described [42]. The data correspond to the means of three independent experiments performed in duplicate, and the error bars represent standard deviations. The data in the panels A and B were obtained using two different methods.