RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Wyborn, Neil R. A1 Messenger, Sarah L. A1 Henderson, Robin A. A1 Sawers, Gary A1 Roberts, Ruth E. A1 Attwood, Margaret M. A1 Green, JeffreyYR 2002 T1 Expression of the Escherichia coli yfiD gene responds to intracellular pH and reduces the accumulation of acidic metabolic end products JF Microbiology, VO 148 IS 4 SP 1015 OP 1026 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-148-4-1015 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB The YfiD protein of Escherichia coli has been reported to be an acid-inducible protein. Here it is shown that expression of a yfiD::lac reporter fusion is enhanced up to 3·5-fold during acidic growth. The anaerobic transcription factor FNR was confirmed as the major regulator of yfiD expression, and ArcA was found to enhance anaerobic yfiD expression, probably by displacing a repressing FNR dimer in the −93·5 region of the promoter. Moreover, the pyruvate sensor PdhR was shown to act as a minor anaerobic repressor of yfiD expression. On the basis of its strong homology to the C-terminal region of pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) it was predicted that YfiD would be a radical-containing enzyme. The YfiD radical was found to be introduced by the PFL-activase enzyme, but unlike PFL, AdhE did not deactivate radicalized YfiD. The extent of radical activation of YfiD was enhanced by low intracellular pH, and thus it was concluded that both yfiD expression and YfiD activity are affected by growth at low pH. The yfiD mutant strain JRG4033 excreted increased levels of organic acids compared to the parental strain when grown in chemostat culture under oxygen-starved conditions, consistent with the acid-inducibility of yfiD expression and the recently reported ability of YfiD to rescue the activity of oxygenolytically cleaved PFL., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-148-4-1015