1887

Abstract

The highly successful pathogen (Mtb) has evolved strategies to adapt to various stress conditions, thus promoting survival within the infected host. The two-component regulatory system (2CRS) , which has been implicated in the Mtb response to inorganic phosphate depletion, is believed to behave as an auto-regulatory bicistronic operon. Unlike other 2CRS, Mtb features an intergenic region (IR) containing several mycobacterium interspersed repetitive units (MIRU) of unknown function. In this study, we used a reporter system to study the promoter activity of the 5′ untranslated region of , and that of various numbers of MIRUs in the IR, during axenic Mtb growth in nutrient-rich broth, and upon exposure to growth-restricting conditions. Activity of the promoter was induced during phosphate depletion and nutrient starvation, and IR promoter activity under these conditions was directly proportional to the number of MIRUs present. Quantitative reverse transcriptase (qRT)-PCR analysis of exponentially growing Mtb revealed monocistronic transcription of and , and, to a lesser degree, bicistronic transcription of the operon. In addition, we observed primarily monocistronic upregulation of during phosphate depletion of Mtb, which was confirmed by Northern analysis in wild-type Mtb and by RT-PCR in a -disrupted mutant, while upregulation of in nutrient-starved Mtb was chiefly bicistronic. Our findings of differential regulation of highlight the potential regulatory role of MIRUs in the Mtb genome and provide insight into the regulatory mechanisms underlying Mtb adaptation to physiologically relevant conditions.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • NIH (Award HL106786 and AI083125)
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2014-06-01
2024-03-29
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