Control of Bacillus subtilis Glutamine Synthetase Expression by glnR from Staphylococcus aureus

Schreier, Harold J.; Caruso, Steven M.; Maier, Kerstin

doi:10.1007/s002840010162

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In gram-positive bacteria, nitrogen-dependent transcriptional regulation is mediated primarily by GlnR and TnrA (196,235). Although staphylococci do not appear to have TnrA, they do have a glutamine synthetase repressor (GlnR) (197,218). GlnR is a member of the MerR family of regulators (162,196) that regulates glnRA expression in B. subtilis (198).…”

Section: Nitrogen-dependent Regulatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

Somerville

Proctor

2009

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

327

348

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SUMMARY Bacteria live in environments that are subject to rapid changes in the availability of the nutrients that are necessary to provide energy and biosynthetic intermediates for the synthesis of macromolecules. Consequently, bacterial survival depends on the ability of bacteria to regulate the expression of genes coding for enzymes required for growth in the altered environment. In pathogenic bacteria, adaptation to an altered environment often includes activating the transcription of virulence genes; hence, many virulence genes are regulated by environmental and nutritional signals. Consistent with this observation, the regulation of most, if not all, virulence determinants in staphylococci is mediated by environmental and nutritional signals. Some of these external signals can be directly transduced into a regulatory response by two-component regulators such as SrrAB; however, other external signals require transduction into intracellular signals. Many of the external environmental and nutritional signals that regulate virulence determinant expression can also alter bacterial metabolic status (e.g., iron limitation). Altering the metabolic status results in the transduction of external signals into intracellular metabolic signals that can be “sensed” by regulatory proteins (e.g., CodY, Rex, and GlnR). This review uses information derived primarily using Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli to articulate how gram-positive pathogens, with emphasis on Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, regulate virulence determinant expression in response to a changing environment.

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Section: Nitrogen-dependent Regulatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

Somerville

Proctor

2009

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

327

348

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“…1). While the occurrence of homologs of TnrA seems to be specific for the Bacillaceae , with the exception of the closely related Bacillus cereus , Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis according to currently available genome sequencing data (for details, see Doroshchuk et al ., 2006), the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in other members of the class Bacilli such as the Staphylococcaceae , Listeriae and Lactobacillales (including enterococci and streptococci) is exclusively dependent on homologs of GlnR (Table 1; Schreier et al ., 2000; Varmanen et al ., 2000; Doroshchuk et al ., 2006; Kloosterman et al ., 2006; Larsen et al ., 2006; Hendriksen et al ., 2008b).…”

Section: Nitrogen Control In Low G+c Dna Gram‐positive Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For staphylococci, the influence of nitrogen metabolism on virulence is best described for the major human pathogen S. aureus (for a review, see Somerville & Proctor, 2009). Methicillin resistance of S. aureus MRSA is at least partially mediated by a transposon insertion in a locus ( glnRA ) encoding proteins with high similarity to the B. subtilis GlnR repressor and glutamine synthetase (Gustafson et al ., 1994; Strandén et al ., 1996; Schreier et al ., 2000). A polar effect of Tn 551 inserted into glnR results in higher glnA transcription, higher levels of intracellular glutamine and thus maintenance of methicillin resistance.…”

Section: Nitrogen Control In High G+c Dna Gram‐positive Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two very similar regulatory proteins of the MerR-type, namely GlnR and TnrA (Schreier et al, 1989;Wray et al, 1996Wray et al, , 1998, and to a certain degree the global regulatory protein CodY (Slack et al, 1995) cooperate to ensure the optimal growth of B. subtilis with respect to nitrogen supply (for an overview, see Fig. 1 TnrA seems to be specific for the Bacillaceae, with the exception of the closely related Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus thuringiensis according to currently available genome sequencing data (for details, see Doroshchuk et al, 2006), the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in other members of the class Bacilli such as the Staphylococcaceae, Listeriae and Lactobacillales (including enterococci and streptococci) is exclusively dependent on homologs of GlnR (Table 1; Schreier et al, 2000;Varmanen et al, 2000;Doroshchuk et al, 2006;Kloosterman et al, 2006;Larsen et al, 2006;Hendriksen et al, 2008b). GlnR acts as a specific regulator of nitrogen metabolism and represses the glnRA operon (Brown & Sonenshein, 1996), the urease operon ureABC (Wray et al, 1997;Brandenburg et al, 2002) and also the tnrA gene (Zalieckas et al, 2006).…”

Section: Regulation Of Nitrogen Metabolism In Bacillus Subtilismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Common patterns – unique features: nitrogen metabolism and regulation in Gram-positive bacteria

2010

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Gram-positive bacteria have developed elaborate mechanisms to control ammonium assimilation, at the levels of both transcription and enzyme activity. In this review, the common and specific mechanisms of nitrogen assimilation and regulation in Gram-positive bacteria are summarized and compared for the genera Bacillus, Clostridium, Streptomyces, Mycobacterium and Corynebacterium, with emphasis on the high G+C genera. Furthermore, the importance of nitrogen metabolism and control for the pathogenic lifestyle and virulence is discussed. In summary, the regulation of nitrogen metabolism in prokaryotes shows an impressive diversity. Virtually every phylum of bacteria evolved its own strategy to react to the changing conditions of nitrogen supply. Not only do the transcription factors differ between the phyla and sometimes even between families, but the genetic targets of a given regulon can also differ between closely related species.

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“…Elevated transcript levels of the glutamine synthetase operon (glnRA), which could be observed in the mutant grown in the presence of nitrate, may be explained by a lack of ammonia in the growth medium as transcriptional induction of the glutamine synthetase operon occurs under ammonia limitation conditions (33). One major route for obtaining ammonia as a substrate for the glutamine synthetase reaction is the reduction of nitrate via nitrite to ammonia by nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase (21), which is impaired in the mutant.…”

Section: Vol 190 2008 Role Of Nreabc In S Aureus 7855mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the Oxygen-Responsive NreABC Regulon of Staphylococcus aureus

et al. 2008

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Here, we investigate the functionality of the oxygen-responsive nitrogen regulation system NreABC in the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and evaluate its role in anaerobic gene regulation and virulence factor expression. Deletion of nreABC resulted in severe impairment of dissimilatory nitrate and nitrite reduction and led to a small-colony phenotype in the presence of nitrate during anaerobic growth. For characterization of the NreABC regulon, comparative DNA microarray and proteomic analyses between the wild type and nreABC mutant were performed under anoxic conditions in the absence and presence of nitrate. A reduced expression of virulence factors was not observed in the mutant. However, both the transcription of genes involved in nitrate and nitrite reduction and the accumulation of corresponding proteins were highly decreased in the nreABC mutant, which was unable to utilize nitrate as a respiratory oxidant and, hence, was forced to use fermentative pathways. These data were corroborated by the quantification of the extracellular metabolites lactate and acetate. Using an Escherichia coli-compatible two-plasmid system, the activation of the promoters of the nitrate and nitrite reductase operons and of the putative nitrate/nitrite transporter gene narK by NreBC was confirmed. Overall, our data indicate that NreABC is very likely a specific regulation system that is essential for the transcriptional activation of genes involved in dissimilatory reduction and transport of nitrate and nitrite. The study underscores the importance of NreABC as a fitness factor for S. aureus in anoxic environments.

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Control of Bacillus subtilis Glutamine Synthetase Expression by glnR from Staphylococcus aureus

Cited by 8 publications

References 24 publications

At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

Common patterns – unique features: nitrogen metabolism and regulation in Gram-positive bacteria

Characterization of the Oxygen-Responsive NreABC Regulon of Staphylococcus aureus

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