scholarly journals An Autoregulatory Circuit Affecting Peptide Signaling in Bacillus subtilis

1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (17) ◽  
pp. 5193-5200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A. Lazazzera ◽  
Iren G. Kurtser ◽  
Ryan S. McQuade ◽  
Alan D. Grossman

ABSTRACT The competence and sporulation factor (CSF) of Bacillus subtilis is an extracellular pentapeptide produced from the product of phrC. CSF has at least three activities: (i) at low concentrations, it stimulates expression of genes activated by the transcription factor ComA; at higher concentrations, it (ii) inhibits expression of those same genes and (iii) stimulates sporulation. Because the activities of CSF are concentration dependent, we measured the amount of extracellular CSF produced by cells. We found that by mid-exponential phase, CSF accumulated to concentrations (1 to 5 nM) that stimulate ComA-dependent gene expression. Upon entry into stationary phase, CSF reached 50 to 100 nM, concentrations that stimulate sporulation and inhibit ComA-dependent gene expression. Transcription of phrC was found to be controlled by two promoters: P1, which precedes rapC, the gene upstream ofphrC; and P2, which directs transcription ofphrC only. Both RapC and CSF were found to be part of autoregulatory loops that affect transcription from P1, which we show is activated by ComA∼P. RapC negatively regulates its own expression, presumably due to its ability to inhibit accumulation of ComA∼P. CSF positively regulates its own expression, presumably due to its ability to inhibit RapC activity. Transcription from P2, which is controlled by the alternate sigma factor ςH, increased as cells entered stationary phase, contributing to the increase in extracellular CSF at this time. In addition to controlling transcription ofphrC, ςH appears to control expression of at least one other gene required for production of CSF.

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (5) ◽  
pp. 1154-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanning Zhou ◽  
Susan Gottesman

ABSTRACT RpoS, the stationary-phase sigma factor of Escherichia coli, is responsible for increased transcription of an array of genes when cells enter stationary phase and under certain stress conditions. RpoS is rapidly degraded during exponential phase and much more slowly during stationary phase; the resulting changes in RpoS accumulation play an important role in providing differential expression of RpoS-dependent gene expression. It has previously been shown that rapid degradation of RpoS during exponential growth depends on RssB (also called SprE and MviA), a protein with homology to the family of response regulators, and on the ClpXP protease. We find that RssB regulation of proteolysis does not extend to another ClpXP substrate, bacteriophage lambda O protein, suggesting that RssB acts on the specific substrate RpoS rather than on the protease. In addition, the activity of RpoS is down-regulated by RssB when degradation is blocked. In cells blocked for RpoS degradation by a mutation inclpP, cells devoid of RssB show a four- to fivefold-higher activity of an RpoS-dependent reporter fusion than cells overproducing RssB. Therefore, RssB allows specific environmental regulation of RpoS accumulation and may also modulate activity. The regulation of degradation provides an irreversible switch, while the regulation of activity may provide a second, presumably reversible level of control.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (16) ◽  
pp. 4814-4822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie G. Dixon ◽  
Steve Seredick ◽  
Martin Richer ◽  
George B. Spiegelman

ABSTRACT The presence of excess glucose in growth media prevents normal sporulation of Bacillus subtilis. The crsA47mutation, located in the gene for the vegetative phase sigma factor (ςA) results in a glucose-resistant sporulation phenotype. As part of a study of the mechanisms whereby the mutation in ςA overcomes glucose repression of sporulation, we examined the expression of genes involved in sporulation initiation in the crsA47 background. The crsA47 mutation had a significant impact on a variety of genes. Changes to stage II gene expression could be linked to alterations in the expression of thesinI and sinR genes. In addition, there was a dramatic increase in the expression of genes dependent on the minor sigma factor ςH. This latter change was paralleled by the pattern of spo0H gene transcription in cells with thecrsA47 mutation. In vitro analysis of RNA polymerase containing ςA47 indicated that it did not have unusually high affinity for the spo0H gene promoter. The in vivo pattern of spo0H expression is not predicted by the known regulatory constraints on spo0H and suggests novel regulation mechanisms that are revealed in the crsA47background.


2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (18) ◽  
pp. 4949-4958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie J. Ellison-Zelski ◽  
Natalia M. Solodin ◽  
Elaine T. Alarid

ABSTRACT Gene expression results from the coordinated actions of transcription factor proteins and coregulators. Estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that can both activate and repress the expression of genes. Activation of transcription by estrogen-bound ERα has been studied in detail, as has antagonist-induced repression, such as that which occurs by tamoxifen. How estrogen-bound ERα represses gene transcription remains unclear. In this report, we identify a new mechanism of estrogen-induced transcriptional repression by using the ERα gene, ESR1. Upon estrogen treatment, ERα is recruited to two sites on ESR1, one distal (ENH1) and the other at the proximal (A) promoter. Coactivator proteins, namely, p300 and AIB1, are found at both ERα-binding sites. However, recruitment of the Sin3A repressor, loss of RNA polymerase II, and changes in histone modifications occur only at the A promoter. Reduction of Sin3A expression by RNA interference specifically inhibits estrogen-induced repression of ESR1. Furthermore, an estrogen-responsive interaction between Sin3A and ERα is identified. These data support a model of repression wherein actions of ERα and Sin3A at the proximal promoter can overcome activating signals at distal or proximal sites and ultimately decrease gene expression.


mSystems ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideji Yoshida ◽  
Tomohiro Shimada ◽  
Akira Ishihama

ABSTRACTIn the process ofEscherichia coliK-12 growth from exponential phase to stationary, marked alteration takes place in the pattern of overall genome expression through modulation of both parts of the transcriptional and translational apparatus. In transcription, the sigma subunit with promoter recognition properties is replaced from the growth-related factor RpoD by the stationary-phase-specific factor RpoS. The unused RpoD is stored by binding with the anti-sigma factor Rsd. In translation, the functional 70S ribosome is converted to inactive 100S dimers through binding with the ribosome modulation factor (RMF). Up to the present time, the regulatory mechanisms of expression of these two critical proteins, Rsd and RMF, have remained totally unsolved. In this study, attempts were made to identify the whole set of transcription factors involved in transcription regulation of thersdandrmfgenes using the newly developed promoter-specific transcription factor (PS-TF) screening system. In the first screening, 74 candidate TFs with binding activity to both of thersdandrmfpromoters were selected from a total of 194 purified TFs. After 6 cycles of screening, we selected 5 stress response TFs, ArcA, McbR, RcdA, SdiA, and SlyA, for detailed analysisin vitroandin vivoof their regulatory roles. Results indicated that bothrsdandrmfpromoters are repressed by ArcA and activated by McbR, RcdA, SdiA, and SlyA. We propose the involvement of a number of TFs in simultaneous and coordinated regulation of the transcriptional and translational apparatus. By using genomic SELEX (gSELEX) screening, each of the five TFs was found to regulate not only thersdandrmfgenes but also a variety of genes for growth and survival.IMPORTANCEDuring the growth transition ofE. colifrom exponential phase to stationary, the genome expression pattern is altered markedly. For this alteration, the transcription apparatus is altered by binding of anti-sigma factor Rsd to the RpoD sigma factor for sigma factor replacement, while the translation machinery is modulated by binding of RMF to 70S ribosome to form inactive ribosome dimer. Using the PS-TF screening system, a number of TFs were found to bind to both thersdandrmfpromoters, of which the regulatory roles of 5 representative TFs (one repressor ArcA and the four activators McbR, RcdA, SdiA, and SlyA) were analyzed in detail. The results altogether indicated the involvement of a common set of TFs, each sensing a specific environmental condition, in coordinated hibernation of the transcriptional and translational apparatus for adaptation and survival under stress conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Lodens ◽  
Sophie L K W Roelants ◽  
Goedele Luyten ◽  
Robin Geys ◽  
Pieter Coussement ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Starmerella bombicola very efficiently produces the secondary metabolites sophorolipids (SLs). Their biosynthesis is not-growth associated and highly upregulated in the stationary phase. Despite high industrial and academic interest, the underlying regulation of SL biosynthesis remains unknown. In this paper, potential regulation of SL biosynthesis through the telomere positioning effect (TPE) was investigated, as the SL gene cluster is located adjacent to a telomere. An additional copy of this gene cluster was introduced elsewhere in the genome to investigate if this results in a decoy of regulation. Indeed, for the new strain, the onset of SL production was shifted to the exponential phase. This result was confirmed by RT-qPCR analysis. The TPE effect was further investigated by developing and applying a suitable reporter system for this non-conventional yeast, enabling non-biased comparison of gene expression between the subtelomeric CYP52M1- and the URA3 locus. This was done with a constitutive endogenous promotor (pGAPD) and one of the endogenous promotors of the SL biosynthetic gene cluster (pCYP52M1). A clear positioning effect was observed for both promotors with significantly higher GFP expression levels at the URA3 locus. No clear GFP upregulation was observed in the stationary phase for any of the new strains.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (17) ◽  
pp. 4881-4890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Britton ◽  
Patrick Eichenberger ◽  
Jose Eduardo Gonzalez-Pastor ◽  
Paul Fawcett ◽  
Rita Monson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Sigma-H is an alternative RNA polymerase sigma factor that directs the transcription of many genes that function at the transition from exponential growth to stationary phase in Bacillus subtilis. Twenty-three promoters, which drive transcription of 33 genes, are known to be recognized by sigma-H-containing RNA polymerase. To identify additional genes under the control of sigma-H on a genome-wide basis, we carried out transcriptional profiling experiments using a DNA microarray containing >99% of the annotated B. subtilis open reading frames. In addition, we used a bioinformatics-based approach aimed at the identification of promoters recognized by RNA polymerase containing sigma-H. This combination of approaches was successful in confirming most of the previously described sigma-H-controlled genes. In addition, we identified 26 putative promoters that drive expression of 54 genes not previously known to be under the direct control of sigma-H. Based on the known or inferred function of most of these genes, we conclude that, in addition to its previously known roles in sporulation and competence, sigma-H controls genes involved in many physiological processes associated with the transition to stationary phase, including cytochrome biogenesis, generation of potential nutrient sources, transport, and cell wall metabolism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 8317
Author(s):  
Rebekah R. Starks ◽  
Rabab Abu Alhasan ◽  
Haninder Kaur ◽  
Kathleen A. Pennington ◽  
Laura C. Schulz ◽  
...  

During pregnancy, the placenta is important for transporting nutrients and waste between the maternal and fetal blood supply, secreting hormones, and serving as a protective barrier. To better understand placental development, we must understand how placental gene expression is regulated. We used RNA-seq data and ChIP-seq data for the enhancer associated mark, H3k27ac, to study gene regulation in the mouse placenta at embryonic day (e) 9.5, when the placenta is developing a complex network of blood vessels. We identified several upregulated transcription factors with enriched binding sites in e9.5-specific enhancers. The most enriched transcription factor, PLAGL1 had a predicted motif in 233 regions that were significantly associated with vasculature development and response to insulin stimulus genes. We then performed several experiments using mouse placenta and a human trophoblast cell line to understand the role of PLAGL1 in placental development. In the mouse placenta, Plagl1 is expressed in endothelial cells of the labyrinth layer and is differentially expressed in placentas from mice with gestational diabetes compared to placentas from control mice in a sex-specific manner. In human trophoblast cells, siRNA knockdown significantly decreased expression of genes associated with placental vasculature development terms. In a tube assay, decreased PLAGL1 expression led to reduced cord formation. These results suggest that Plagl1 regulates overlapping gene networks in placental trophoblast and endothelial cells, and may play a critical role in placental development in normal and complicated pregnancies.


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