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Query: EC:2.7.7.6 (RNA polymerase)
34,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The sigma(s) subunit of RNA polymerase (encoded by the rpoS gene) is a master regulator in a complex regulatory network that governs the expression of many stationary-phase-induced and osmotically regulated genes in Escherichia coli. rpoS expression is itself osmotically regulated by a mechanism that operates at the posttranscriptional level. Cells growing at high osmolarity already exhibit increased levels of sigma(s) during the exponential phase of growth. Osmotic induction of rpoS can be triggered by addition of NaCl or sucrose and is alleviated by glycine betaine. Stimulation of rpoS translation and a change in the half-life of sigma(s) from 3 to 50 min both contribute to osmotic induction. Experiments with lacZ fusions inserted at different positions within the rpoS gene indicate that an element required for sigma(s) degradation is encoded between nucleotides 379 and 742 of the rpoS coding sequence.
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PMID:Posttranscriptional osmotic regulation of the sigma(s) subunit of RNA polymerase in Escherichia coli. 862 88

The biosynthesis of the hemes, chlorophylls, corrins and other tetrapyrroles begins with the synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). The pathway is highly conserved except for the synthesis of ALA which is derived from glycine and succinyl CoA (C4) in most eukaryotes and from glutamate (C5) in most bacteria and in green plants. In C5, glutamyl-tRNA synthetase (GTS) converts glutamate to glutamyl-tRNA (glu-tRNA), which is reduced by glutamyl-tRNA reductase (GTR) to glutamyl-1-semialdehyde (GSA), which is converted by aminotransferase (GSA-AT) to ALA. Since GTS is also involved in protein synthesis and GSA can be converted to ALA non-enzymatically, it is highly probable that control of ALA synthesis and thus of the whole pathway resides in the GTR step. In Escherichia coli, GTR is the gene product of hemA. BL21(DE3), a protease-deficient strain which contains the T7 RNA polymerase gene in front of a lac promoter, was transformed with a pET14b-based vector, pWC01, harboring hemA in front of a T7 promoter and ORF1 which is transcribed in the opposite direction. The transformed strain, WC1201, secreted ALA and porphyrins into the medium. Induction of expression of hemA by WC1201 was optimized for concentration of inducer (IPTG, 5 mM), temperature (37 degrees C), presence of betaine and sorbitol (no change) and time of induction (2h). GTR was observable as a 46 kDa band by Brilliant blue G staining of SDS-PAGE gels. Sonicates of the induction mixture exhibited strong ALA synthesis activity which was enhanced by tRNAglu. Most of the activity was in the supernatant of the sonicate indicating that GTR is a soluble enzyme. The induced strain had more GTS activity than the uninduced strain which had more GTS activity than its parent wild-type strain. Autoradiography on native gradient PAGE showed that GTR expressed in vivo by induction of WC1201 had a molecular weight of approx. 117 kDa. Gel filtration of the induced sonicate showed a peak of enzymatic activity at about 126 kDa. When pET14b- or pUC19-based plasmids harboring hemA and ORF1, or importantly, a pUC19-based plasmid harboring only hemA and not ORF1, were expressed in an in vitro transcription-translation system, native gradient PAGE showed a product with a molecular weight of approximately 175 kDA. This expression was higher in the presence of tRNAglu. When the 117 kDa and 175 kDa proteins were excised from their native gels respectively, and run on SDS PAGE, autoradiography showed bands at 46 kDa. We conclude that GTR is present in both high molecular weight species. Since overexpression of hemA from pET14b-based plasmids is associated with increased glutamyl-tRNA synthetase activity, the 175 kDa species may represent different complexes of GTR, GTS and glutamyl-tRNA as observed in Chlamydomonas and the 117-126 kDa species may be an dimer of GTR associated with glu-tRNA or a complex of GTR, GTS and glu-tRNA. These possibilities are being investigated.
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PMID:Expression of glutamyl-tRNA reductase in Escherichia coli. 895 Jan 86

Transcription of the proP gene, encoding a transporter of the osmoprotectants proline and glycine betaine, is controlled from two promoters, P1 and P2, that respond primarily to osmotic and stationary-phase signals, respectively. The P1 promoter is normally expressed at a very low level under low or normal medium osmolarity. We demonstrate that the binding of the cyclic AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP) to a site centered at -34.5 within the promoter is responsible for the low promoter activity under these conditions. A brief period of reduced CRP binding in early log phase corresponds to a transient burst of P1 transcription upon resumption of growth in Luria-Bertani broth. A CRP binding-site mutation or the absence of a functional crp gene leads to high constitutive expression of P1. We show that the binding of CRP-cAMP inhibits transcription by purified RNA polymerase in vitro at P1, but this repression is relieved at moderately high potassium glutamate concentrations. Likewise, open-complex formation at P1 in vivo is inhibited by the presence of CRP under low-osmolarity conditions. Because P1 expression can be further induced by osmotic upshifts in a delta crp strain or in the presence of the CRP binding-site mutation, additional controls exist to osmotically regulate P1 expression.
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PMID:Cyclic AMP receptor protein functions as a repressor of the osmotically inducible promoter proP P1 in Escherichia coli. 907 29

The proU operon in enterobacteria encodes a binding-protein-dependent transporter for the active uptake of glycine betaine and L-proline, and serves an adaptive role during growth of cells in hyperosmolar environments. Transcription of proU is induced 400-fold under these conditions, but the underlying signal transduction mechanisms are incompletely understood. Increased DNA supercoiling and activation by potassium glutamate have each been proposed in alternative models as mediators of proU osmoresponsivity. We review here the available experimental data on proU regulation, and in particular the roles for DNA supercoiling, potassium glutamate, histone-like proteins of the bacterial nucleoid, and alternative sigma factors of RNA polymerase in such regulation. We also propose a new unifying model, in which the pronounced osmotic regulation of proU expression is achieved through the additive effects of at least three separate mechanisms, each comprised of a cis element [two promoters P1 and P2, and negative-regulatory-element (NRE) downstream of both promoters] and distinct trans-acting factors that interact with it: stationary-phase sigma factor RpoS with P1, nucleoid proteins HU and IHF with P2, and nucleoid protein H-NS with the NRE. In this model, potassium glutamate may activate proU expression through each of the three mechanisms whereas DNA supercoiling has a very limited role, if any, in the osmotic induction of proU transcription. We also suggest that proU may be a virulence gene in the pathogenic enterobacteria.
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PMID:How is osmotic regulation of transcription of the Escherichia coli proU operon achieved? A review and a model. 908 63

In the non-motile mycelial organism Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), the sporulation gene whiG encodes a protein that closely resembles RNA polymerase sigma factors such as sigma D of Bacillus subtilis, which mainly control motility and chemotaxis genes. Here, we show that the whiG gene product, purified from an Escherichia coli strain carrying an expression construct, could activate E. coli core RNA polymerase in vitro to transcribe a sigma D-dependent motility-related promoter from B. subtilis. Such RNA polymerase holoenzyme preparations could also transcribe from an S. coelicolor promoter, PTH4, previously shown to require an intact whiG gene for in-vivo transcription. The in-vivo dependence on whiG was therefore shown to be direct. Unusually, the initiation of PTH4 transcription in vitro depended on the provision of appropriate dinucleotides. The whiG-dependent PTH4 transcription unit consisted of a single gene, orfTH4. Sequence comparisons suggested that the gene product was a member of a small group of proteins that include the B. subtilis and E. coli ProX proteins. Though none of these proteins shared more than about 30% of extended primary sequence identity, they had similar size and hydropathy profiles, and could be aligned end to end to reveal a mosaic of similarities. The ProX proteins of B. subtilis and E. coli are implicated in glycine betaine transport in response to hyperosmotic stress. However, disruption of orfTH4 did not cause any obvious phenotypic changes in growth or development on media of varying osmotic strengths.
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PMID:The Streptomyces coelicolor sporulation-specific sigma WhiG form of RNA polymerase transcribes a gene encoding a ProX-like protein that is dispensable for sporulation. 966 73

Cell-free transcription of archaeal promoters is mediated by two archaeal transcription factors, aTBP and TFB, which are orthologues of the eukaryotic transcription factors TBP and TFIIB. Using the cell-free transcription system described for the hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus by Hethke et al., the temperature limits and template topology requirements of archaeal transcription were investigated. aTBP activity was not affected after incubation for 1 hr at 100 degrees. In contrast, the half-life of RNA polymerase activity was 23 min and that of TFB activity was 3 min. The half-life of a 328-nt RNA product was 10 min at 100 degrees. Best stability of RNA was observed at pH 6, at 400 mm K-glutamate in the absence of Mg(2+) ions. Physiological concentrations of K-glutamate were found to stabilize protein components in addition, indicating that salt is an important extrinsic factor contributing to thermostability. Both RNA and proteins were stabilized by the osmolyte betaine at a concentration of 1 m. The highest activity for RNA synthesis at 95 degrees was obtained in the presence of 1 m betaine and 400 mm K-glutamate. Positively supercoiled DNA, which was found to exist in Pyrococcus cells, can be transcribed in vitro both at 70 degrees and 90 degrees. However, negatively supercoiled DNA was the preferred template at all temperatures tested. Analyses of transcripts from plasmid topoisomers harboring the glutamate dehydrogenase promoter and of transcription reactions conducted in the presence of reverse gyrase indicate that positive supercoiling of DNA inhibits transcription from this promoter.
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PMID:Cell-free transcription at 95 degrees: thermostability of transcriptional components and DNA topology requirements of Pyrococcus transcription. 1043 May 63

ProP is an integral membrane transporter of proline, glycine betaine, and several other osmoprotecting compounds. Fis plus RpoS collaborate to promote a burst of proP transcription in late exponential growth phase. This brief period of ProP synthesis enables stationary phase cells to cope with a potential hyperosmotic shock. Fis activates the RpoS (sigma(38))-dependent proP P2 promoter by binding to a site within the promoter region centered at -41 and thus functions as a class II activator. We show here that activation by Fis at this promoter is completely dependent upon the alpha-CTD of RNA polymerase and that the activation domain on Fis is localized to a four amino acid ridge on the surface of Fis adjacent to the helix-turn-helix DNA binding domain in only one subunit of the homodimer. Fis mutants containing amino acid substitutions within this region are defective in cooperative binding interactions with the sigma(38)-form of RNA polymerase. Some of these substitutions also alter interactions with DNA sequences flanking the core binding site, but we show that changes in Fis-mediated curvature do not affect promoter activity. We conclude that the same amino acids are used by Fis to activate transcription from a class I (-71, rrnB P1) and class II (-41, proP P2) location, but this region is distinct from that required to regulate the Hin site-specific DNA inversion reaction.
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PMID:Localization of amino acids required for Fis to function as a class II transcriptional activator at the RpoS-dependent proP P2 promoter. 1061 Jul 62

The Escherichia coli proP P2 promoter, which directs the expression of an integral membrane transporter of proline, glycine betaine, and other osmoprotecting compounds, is induced upon entry into stationary phase to protect cells from osmotic shock. Transcription from the P2 promoter is completely dependent on RpoS (sigma(38)) and Fis. Fis activates transcription by binding to a site centered at -41, which overlaps the promoter, where it makes a specific contact with the C-terminal domain of the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase (alpha-CTD). We show here that Fis and cyclic AMP (cAMP) receptor protein (CRP)-cAMP collaborate to activate transcription synergistically in vitro. Coactivation both in vivo and in vitro is dependent on CRP binding to a site centered at -121.5, but CRP without Fis provides little activation. The contribution by CRP requires the correct helical phasing of the CRP site and a functional activation region 1 on CRP. We provide evidence that coactivation is achieved by Fis and CRP independently contacting each of the two alpha-CTDs. Efficient transcription in vitro requires that both activators must be preincubated with the DNA prior to addition of RNA polymerase.
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PMID:Coactivation of the RpoS-dependent proP P2 promoter by fis and cyclic AMP receptor protein. 1089 25

The regulation of the compatible solute transport systems in Listeria monocytogenes by the stress-inducible sigma factor sigma(B) was investigated. Using wild-type strain 10403S and an otherwise isogenic strain carrying an in-frame deletion in sigB, we have examined the role of sigma(B) in regulating the ability of cells to utilize betaine and carnitine during growth under conditions of hyperosmotic stress. Cells lacking sigma(B) were defective for the utilization of carnitine but retained the ability to utilize betaine as an osmoprotectant. When compatible solute transport studies were performed, the initial rates of uptake of both betaine and carnitine were found to be reduced in the sigB mutant; carnitine transport was almost abolished, whereas betaine transport was reduced to approximately 50% of that of the parent strain. Analysis of the cytoplasmic pools of compatible solutes during balanced growth revealed that both carnitine and betaine steady-state pools were reduced in the sigB mutant. Transcriptional reporter fusions to the opuC (which encodes an ABC carnitine transporter) and betL (which encodes an a secondary betaine transporter) operons were generated by using a promoterless copy of the gus gene from Escherichia coli. Measurement of beta-glucuronidase activities directed by opuC-gus and betL-gus revealed that transcription of opuC is largely sigma(B) dependent, consistent with the existence of a potential sigma(B) consensus promoter motif upstream from opuCA. The transcription of betL was found to be sigB independent. Reverse transcriptase PCR experiments confirmed these data and indicated that the transcription of all three known compatible solute uptake systems (opuC, betL, and gbu), as well as a gene that is predicted to encode a compatible solute transporter subunit (lmo1421) is induced in response to elevated osmolarity. The osmotic induction of opuCA and lmo1421 was found to be strongly sigma(B) dependent. Together these observations suggest that sigma(B) plays a major role in the regulation of carnitine utilization by L. monocytogenes but is not essential for betaine utilization by this pathogen.
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PMID:Role of sigmaB in regulating the compatible solute uptake systems of Listeria monocytogenes: osmotic induction of opuC is sigmaB dependent. 1267 77

Transcription initiation is a multistep process involving a series of requisite conformational changes in RNA polymerase (R) and promoter DNA (P) that create the open complex (RP(o)). Here, we use the small solutes urea and glycine betaine (GB) to probe the extent and type of surface area changes in the formation of RP(o) between Esigma(70) RNA polymerase and lambdaP(R) promoter DNA. Effects of urea quantitatively reflect changes in amide surface and are particularly well-suited to detect coupled protein folding events. GB provides a qualitative probe for the exposure or burial of anionic surface. Kinetics of formation and dissociation of RP(o) reveal strikingly large effects of the solutes on the final steps of RP(o) formation: urea dramatically increases the dissociation rate constant k(d), whereas GB decreases the rate of dissociation. Formation of the first kinetically significant intermediate I(1) is disfavored in urea, and moderately favored by GB. GB slows the rate-determining step that converts I(1) to the second kinetically significant intermediate I(2); urea has no effect on this step. The most direct interpretation of these data is that recognition of promoter DNA in I(1) involves only limited conformational changes. Notably, the data support the following hypotheses: (1) the negatively charged N-terminal domain of sigma(70) remains bound in the "jaws" of polymerase in I(1); (2) the subsequent rate-determining isomerization step involves ejecting this domain from the jaws, thereby unmasking the active site; and (3) final conversion to RP(o) involves coupled folding of the mobile downstream clamp of polymerase.
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PMID:Solute probes of conformational changes in open complex (RPo) formation by Escherichia coli RNA polymerase at the lambdaPR promoter: evidence for unmasking of the active site in the isomerization step and for large-scale coupled folding in the subsequent conversion to RPo. 1647 5


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