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Volume 156, Issue 5

A role for the Rcs phosphorelay in regulating expression of plant cell wall degrading enzymes in subsp. Free

Abstract

The Rcs phosphorelay is a signal transduction system that influences the virulence phenotype of several pathogenic bacteria. In the plant pathogen subsp. () the response regulator of the Rcs phosphorelay, RcsB, represses expression of plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDE) and motility. The focus of this study was to identify genes directly regulated by the binding of RcsB that also regulate expression of PCWDE genes in . RcsB-binding sites within the regulatory regions of the operon and the and genes were identified using DNase I protection assays, while studies using  : : ,  : :  and  : :  gene fusions revealed gene regulation. These experiments demonstrated that the operon , a flagellar master regulator, was repressed by RcsB, and transcription of was activated by RcsB. Regulation of the promoter by RcsB is more complicated. Our results show that RcsB represses expression mainly through modulating transcription. Neverthless, direct binding of RcsB on the promoter region is possible in certain conditions. Using an -negative mutant, it was further demonstrated that RprA RNA is not essential for regulating expression of PCWDE under the conditions tested, whereas overexpression of increased protease expression in wild-type cells. Stationary-phase sigma factor, RpoS, is the only known target gene for RprA RNA in ; however, in the effect of RprA RNA was found to be -independent. Overall, our results show that the Rcs phosphorelay negatively affects expression of PCWDE by inhibiting expression of and .

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Keyword(s): Pba, Pectobacterium atrosepticum SCRI 1043 , Pcc, Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum , PCWDE, plant cell wall degrading enzymes and PGA, polygalacturonic acid
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2010-05-01
2024-04-26
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A role for the Rcs phosphorelay in regulating expression of plant cell wall degrading enzymes in Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum
Microbiology 156, 1323 (2010); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.033936-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.033936-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.033936-0
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