The function of the regulatory protein AveR in Streptomyces avermitilis was examined. An aveR deletion mutant abolished avermectin production and produced more oligomycin, and its phenotype was complemented by a single copy of the aveR gene. Removal of the C-terminal HTH domain of AveR abolished avermectin biosynthesis, indicating the importance of HTH domain for AveR function. Promoter titration and promoter probe assays suggested that the transcription of aveA1, encoding polypeptide AVES1 of avermectin PKS, was activated by AveR. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay showed that the predicted promoter regions of both the ave cluster and the olm cluster were target sites of AveR, and the DNA-binding activity of AveR was dependent on its HTH domain. RT-PCR analysis revealed that the transcriptions of ave structural genes were dependent on AveR, but that of olm structural genes and putative pathway-specific regulatory genes increased in the aveR mutants. Consistent with these observations, overexpression of aveR successfully increased avermectin production. These results indicated that aveR encodes a pathway-specific activator essential for avermectin biosynthesis and it also negatively affects oligomycin biosynthesis.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a broad host range plant pathogen that combinatorially recognizes diverse host molecules including phenolics, low pH, and aldose monosaccharides to activate its pathogenic pathways. Chromosomal virulence gene E (chvE) encodes a periplasmic-binding protein that binds several neutral sugars and sugar acids, and subsequently interacts with the VirA/ VirG regulatory system to stimulate virulence (vir) gene expression. Here, a combination of genetics, X-ray crystallography, and isothermal calorimetry reveals how ChvE binds the different monosaccharides and also shows that binding of sugar acids is pH dependent. Moreover, the potency of a sugar for vir gene expression is modulated by a transport system that also relies on ChvE. These two circuits tune the overall system to respond to sugar concentrations encountered in vivo. Finally, using chvE mutants with restricted sugar specificities, we show that there is host variation in regard to the types of sugars that are limiting for vir induction.protein crystallization | sugar binding protein | sugar binding specificity | host recognition | ABC transporter B road host range bacterial pathogens confront a variety of problems in the context of regulating their virulence mechanisms. Because these mechanisms are usually energy intensive, the controlling system is expected to exhibit very tight regulationactivating virulence pathways under conditions that are not suitable for pathogenic activity would be wasteful (1). However, the pathogen needs to recognize diverse hosts, suggesting that the control system must be very flexible in terms of signal perception. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a broad host range plant pathogen that has the intriguing capacity to recognize several chemically distinct types of host molecules and to activate virulence (vir) gene expression only when the appropriate combination of signals is perceived. Moreover, within each class of signals, there is unusual chemical diversity, providing an important means of broadening host range. The focus of this paper is on the periplasmic sugar binding protein encoded by the chromosomal virulence gene E (chvE) of A. tumefaciens, which recognizes diverse aldose monosaccharides including arabinose, glucose, galactose, fucose, and xylose as well as sugar acids such as galacturonic and glucuronic acids (2-4).ChvE works together with the VirA/VirG two-component system of A. tumefaciens to integrate information from several different host-derived signals and activate virulence gene expression. ChvE binds aldose monosaccharides, whereas VirA recognizes plant phenolic derivatives; low pH impinges on the system at multiple levels. Previously, we found that there was little correlation between the in vitro dissociation constants for binding of various sugars to ChvE and the corresponding efficacy of these sugars to activate vir gene expression (2). Here, we resolve this apparent paradox by considering ChvE's activity in the context of the complex interplay between pathogen and host. Specifically...
The chvE-gguABC operon plays a critical role in both virulence and sugar utilization through the activities of the periplasmic ChvE protein, which binds to a variety of sugars. The roles of the GguA, GguB, and GguC are not known. While GguA and GguB are homologous to bacterial ABC transporters, earlier genetic analysis indicated that they were not necessary for utilization of sugars as the sole carbon source. To further examine this issue, in-frame deletions were constructed separately for each of the three genes. Our growth analysis clearly indicated that GguA and GguB play a role in sugar utilization and strongly suggests that GguAB constitute an ABC transporter with a wide range of substrates, including L-arabinose, D-fucose, D-galactose, D-glucose, and D-xylose. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that a Walker A motif was vital to the function of GguA. We therefore propose renaming gguAB as mmsAB, for multiple monosaccharide transport. A gguC deletion affected growth only on L-arabinose medium, suggesting that gguC encodes an enzyme specific to L-arabinose metabolism, and this gene was renamed araD1. Results from bioinformatics and experimental analyses indicate that Agrobacterium tumefaciens uses a pathway involving nonphosphorylated intermediates to catabolize L-arabinose via an L-arabinose dehydrogenase, AraA At , encoded at the Atu1113 locus.
In Streptomyces griseus, AdpA, the key transcriptional activator in the A-factor regulatory cascade, switches on the transcription of multiple genes required for secondary metabolism and morphological differentiation. Streptomyces avermitilis also contains an ortholog of adpA, which is named adpA-a. To clarify the in vivo function of adpA-a, an adpA-a-disrupted strain was constructed by double crossover recombination. No difference in avermectin production was found between the adpA-a-disruptant and the wild-type strain. However, this disruptant neither formed spores nor produced melanin and its phenotype was restored to the original wild-type by a single copy of the adpA-a gene integrated into the chromosome. This report shows that adpA-a is involved in regulation of morphological differentiation and melanin production in S. avermitilis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.