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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2004, p . 4502-4509, Vol . 186,
No . 14
Genes
Regulated by TorR, the Trimethylamine Oxide Response Regulator of Shewanella
oneidensis
Christophe Bordi, Mireille Ansaldi, Stéphanie Gon,
Cécile Jourlin-Castelli, Chantal Iobbi-Nivol, and Vincent Méjean*
Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, Institut de Biologie Structurale et
Microbiologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 13402 Marseille
Cedex 20, France
Received 3 February 2004/ Accepted 18 April 2004
The torECAD operon encoding the trimethylamine oxide (TMAO)
respiratory system of Shewanella oneidensis is positively controlled
by the TorS/TorR two-component system when TMAO is available .
Activation of the tor operon occurs upon binding of the phosphorylated
response regulator TorR to a single operator site containing
the direct repeat nucleotide sequence TTCATAN4TTCATA . Here we
show that the replacement of any nucleotide of one TTCATA hexamer
prevented TorR binding in vitro, meaning that TorR specifically
interacts with this DNA target . Identical direct repeat sequences
were found in the promoter regions of torR and of the new gene
torF (SO4694), and they allowed TorR binding to both promoters .
Real-time PCR experiments revealed that torR is negatively
autoregulated, whereas torF is strongly induced by TorR in
response to TMAO . Transcription start site location and footprinting
analysis indicate that the operator site at torR overlaps the
promoter –10 box, whereas the operator site at torF is
centered at –74 bp from the start site, in agreement with the
opposite role of TorR in the regulation of the two genes . Since
torF and torECAD are positively coregulated by TorR, we
propose that the TorF protein plays a role related to TMAO
respiration .
Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) is a small compound mainly found in
aquatic environments (15) . In a number of marine animals
including fish and crustaceans, it stabilizes proteins against
the denaturing effect of stresses such as hydrostatic pressure or
high urea or salt concentration (20, 31,
32) . This protective role is not yet clearly
established for bacteria, but many of them can use TMAO as a terminal
electron acceptor for anaerobic respiration (3,
28) . For example, Shewanella strains, which
are gram-negative bacteria with wide respiratory capacities, can
reduce TMAO efficiently to generate energy during fish spoilage (13,
14, 16) . The main TMAO respiratory pathway
of Shewanella species comprises a periplasmic terminal
reductase (TorA) containing a molybdenum cofactor and a pentaheme
c-type cytochrome (TorC) anchored to the inner membrane (9,
12) . The genes encoding the Tor pathway are
clustered in the torECAD operon, and this operon is regulated
by the TorS/TorR two-component system (6) . When
TMAO is available in the medium, the sensor TorS transphosphorylates
the response regulator TorR which, in turn, activates the torECAD
operon by binding to a single operator site in the operon promoter
(12) .
A similar Tor respiratory system is present in Escherichia coli,
and its torCAD structural operon is also controlled by a TorS/TorR
signal transduction system (18, 24) .
The E . coli TorS sensor detects the presence of not only TMAO
but also immature TorC to allow optimal production of the structural
components of the Tor respiratory system in inducing conditions (1,
19) . The physiological relevance of this subtle
negative autoregulation by apocytochrome TorC is probably that TorC
maturation is the limiting step of the Tor system biogenesis (11) .
Overproduction of the c-type cytochrome maturation machinery
relieves the negative autoregulation by increasing the extent of TorC
maturation (1) . In addition to the torCAD
operon, TorR-P activates the tnaLAB operon encoding the
tryptophanase (TnaA) and a low-affinity tryptophan permease (TnaB) .
The physiological reason for the coregulation of torCAD and
tnaLAB is that the tryptophanase activity protects E . coli
against the alkaline stress generated by the production of alkaline
TMA during TMAO respiration (7) . Indeed, TnaA
reverses alkalinization by producing acidic products from
L-tryptophan .
In this study, we show that TorR of Shewanella oneidensis activates
torECAD and a new gene called torF (SO4694) and
represses its own gene by binding to specific operator sites
containing a direct repeat of the hexanucleotide sequence TTCATA
separated by four nucleotides . torF encodes a protein that
belongs to a new family of proteins of unknown function, and its
coregulation with torECAD suggests that the TorF protein plays
a key role in the TMAO respiratory system .
Strains, media, and growth conditions. All strains of S .
oneidensis used in this study are derivatives of strain MR1-R (6,
26) . Strains SOR-3 and SOS-2 are, respectively,
torR and torS insertion mutants . S . oneidensis was grown at
30°C in Luria-Bertani rich medium, complemented with 40 mM
L-lactate and 20 mM HEPES as described by Myers and Myers
(27) . E . coli strains MC4100 and LCB436 [MC4100
but
(torSTRCAD)]
were grown at 37°C in Luria-Bertani medium (12) . To
maintain plasmid selection in E . coli, ampicillin was added at
a concentration of 50 µg/ml .
DNA manipulations. DNA preparation, restriction endonuclease
digestion, purification, and ligation were carried out according to
standard procedures . The transformation of E . coli was
performed as described by Chung and Miller (8) .
Plasmid constructions. To create plasmid pPTorRSO,
we performed PCR by using S . oneidensis chromosomal DNA as a
template and the primer pair pR1-pR2 (Table 1) to
generate a DNA fragment extending from –182 to + 19 (nucleotide
position relative to the translation start site of torR) . The
PCR product was cloned into the SmaI site of pGE593 (10),
and the resulting plasmid (pPTorRSO) was introduced into
strain LCB436 . The appropriate cloning orientation was determined by
PCR . The absence of mutation in the cloned fragment was checked by
DNA sequencing .
| TABLE 1 . Synthetic oligonucleotides used in this study
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RNA preparation. RNA was prepared by using a High Pure RNA
isolation kit from Roche Diagnostics according to the manufacturer's
instructions but with the slight modification that the DNase I
digestion step was carried out twice in order to diminish the
quantity of contaminating DNA . When the RNA was prepared in order to
perform real-time PCR experiments, an additional third step of
DNase I treatment was carried out in solution with RNase-free DNase I
(Amersham) between the two passages through columns .
Primer extension analysis. The transcription start sites of
the torR and torF genes were determined in E . coli
strain LCB436 carrying plasmid pPTorRSO and in S .
oneidensis strain MR1-R, respectively . The strains were grown
anaerobically in the presence of 50 mM TMAO until the culture reached
an A600 of 0.5 . Total RNA was then extracted . The
oligonucleotides used as probes were end labeled with [ -33P]ATP
(2,500 Ci/mmol) by using T4 polynucleotide kinase (Gibco-BRL)
and purified with a QIAGEN QIAquick nucleotide removal kit . The
primer extension reactions were performed with reverse transcriptase
(Superscript II; Gibco-BRL) . The sequencing ladders were generated
with the same oligonucleotides used for the primer extensions .
RT PCR analysis. Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT PCR) was
performed with the Promega Access system . The oligonucleotides used
are indicated in Table 1 (see also Fig.
3) . One microgram of purified RNA was denatured at
94°C for 2 min in the presence of the primers . Immediately
afterwards, reverse transcription and 35 cycles of PCR amplification
were carried out according to the supplier's protocol .
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FIG . 3 . (A) Nucleotide sequence of the torR promoter region . The
transcription start site (+1) and the positions of oligonucleotides R5,
R7, and R8 are indicated . The –10 and –35 regions are indicated in bold,
and the ATG initiation codon is underlined . The direct repeat is
indicated as a double-strand sequence . (B) Location of the transcription
start point of gene torR . The labeled lacZ primer, complementary
to the lacZ internal sequence, was annealed to total RNA from
E . coli LCB436 carrying plasmid pPTorRSO and extended
with RT (lane 1) . The sequencing reactions were performed with the same
primer as in the primer extension reaction . The samples were loaded on
an 8% polyacrylamide-8 M urea electrophoresis gel . The arrow points out
the transcription start site . (C) Analysis of the torR gene
transcription by RT PCR followed by 2% agarose gel electrophoresis . The
RT PCR was carried out with primer R5 and either primer R7 (lane 1 and
2) or R8 (lane 3 and 4) . Lanes 2 and 3, RT PCR with 1 µg of total RNA
from S . oneidensis MR1-R; lanes 1 and 4, control PCR with genomic
DNA; lane M, 1-kb ladder from Gibco BRL.
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Real-time PCR. The relative abundance of the torC,
torR, and torF transcripts of various S . oneidensis
strains (MR1-R, SOR-3, and SOS-2) grown with or without TMAO (50 mM)
was determined by real-time PCR . 16S rRNA was used as a reference
standard . Real-time PCR was performed by using a LightCycler
instrument and the LightCycler-FastStart DNA Master SYBR Green I kit
(Roche Diagnostics) according to the manufacturer's instructions .
Total RNA, extracted from S . oneidensis strains grown with or
without TMAO (50 mM), was reverse transcribed by using random
hexamers . cDNA (2 ng) was then mixed with 4 mM MgCl2, a
0.1 µM concentration of each primer, and 2 µl of master mix in a
20-µl final volume . The primer pairs used to quantify the torC,
torR, torF, and 16S rRNA gene expression levels were
C1-C2, R1-R2, F1-F2, and 16S1-16S2, respectively (Table
1) . PCR assay was carried out with one cycle at 95°C for 8 min,
followed by up to 45 cycles at 95°C for 15 sec, 60°C for 10 sec, and
72°C for 10 sec . The fluorescence derived from the incorporation of
SYBR Green I into the double-stranded PCR products was measured at
the end of each cycle to determine the amplification kinetics
of each product . The fit points method described by the manufacturer
was then applied to the results . Briefly, a horizontal noise band was
determined as well as a log line fitting the exponential portion of
the amplification curve . The intersections of these log lines with
the horizontal noise line identified the crossing points . These
crossing points were determined for each gene in both growth
conditions . The induction factor was calculated as follows: 2(crossing
point in absence of TMAO – crossing point in presence of TMAO) .
The values were normalized by using values obtained with 16S rRNA .
The real-time PCR experiments were performed three times with RNA
samples prepared from independent cultures .
Preparation of the TorR protein of S . oneidensis.
Overproduction of the TorR protein of S . oneidensis was achieved
by growing 100 ml of strain MC4100 carrying plasmid pRso1
(pBAD24 carrying the torR gene under the control of the
arabinose-inducible promoter) (12) . When the
culture reached an A600 of 1, overproduction of the
TorR protein was induced for 1 h with 0.2% arabinose . The cells were
then harvested by centrifugation, and the pellet was resuspended in 5
ml of 40 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.6 . The cells were passed through a French
press, and the extract was centrifuged at 14,000 rpm in a Sorvall
RC5B centrifuge for 10 min . The supernatant was directly loaded on a
heparin-Sepharose column (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) . The proteins
were eluted with a step gradient of KCl from 100 mM to 1 M . TorR was
purified near to homogeneity in the 400 mM KCl fraction .
Gel retardation assays. The DNA fragments were generated by
PCR with the appropriate labeled and unlabeled primers . Labeling was
carried out by using [ -32P]ATP
(4,000 Ci/mmol) and T4 polynucleotide kinase (Gibco-BRL), and the
labeled fragments were then separated from unincorporated nucleotides
(QIAquick nucleotide removal kit; QIAGEN) . Binding of TorR to labeled
DNA fragments was carried out in a 4-µl reaction mixture containing
50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8), 1.25 mM EDTA, 0.25 M sucrose, 0.025%
bromophenol blue, and 0.25 µg of poly(dI-dC) per µl . After 30 min at
room temperature, the samples were loaded and run on a 12.5%
polyacrylamide gel (Pharmacia Phast System) . The gel was exposed for
3 h at room temperature on a phosphorimager screen .
DNase I footprinting. The same labeled DNA fragments as
those used for the gel retardation assays, encompassing the torR
(201 bp) or the torF (386 bp) regulatory regions, were
generated by PCR from plasmid pPTorRSO and from MR1-R
chromosomal DNA, respectively, with the appropriate labeled and
unlabeled primers . The footprinting experiments were performed as
follows . About 1 nM of probe was used in 50 µl of binding mix [10 mM
Tris HCl (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM MgCl2, 0.5 mM
dithiothreitol, 4% glycerol, and 30 ng of poly(dI-dC) per µl] .
Different amounts of the purified TorR protein were then added . After
30 min of incubation at room temperature, DNase I was added (1 U;
Promega), and the reaction was conducted for 1 min and then stopped
by the addition of 140 µl of DNase stop solution (192 mM sodium
acetate, 32 mM EDTA, 0.14% sodium dodecyl sulfate, and 64 µg of
yeast RNA per ml) . After phenol-chloroform extraction and DNA-ethanol
precipitation, the pellets were resuspended in loading solution
(95% formamide, 20 mM EDTA, 0.05% bromophenol blue, 0.05% xylene
cyanol) and loaded on an 8% polyacrylamide-8 M urea electrophoresis
gel . The location of the protected nucleotides was deduced by running
a ladder with the products of the G+A cleavage reaction .
TorR binds to a direct repeat of the hexanucleotide sequence TTCATA in
the torECAD promoter. We have previously shown that TorR, the
TMAO response regulator of S . oneidensis, induces the
torECAD operon by binding to a single operator site located
between positions –84 and –60 relative to the transcription start
site (12) . Inspection of this region revealed the
presence of a direct repeat of the hexameric sequence TTCATA (Fig.
1) . This tandem direct repeat could be the target
of TorR because members of the OmpR family usually interact with
direct repeats (5, 21, 22,
25) . To test this hypothesis, we first changed the
center of each hexamer (italicized) independently by a double
mutation (TTCATA TTGCTA)
and carried out a DNA-binding gel shift assay with labeled DNA
fragments corresponding to the tor operon region from position
–90 to + 119 and purified TorR . As shown in Fig . 1, the
DNA fragments containing the double mutation (mutations 1 and
2) were not retarded by a high concentration (1 µM) of TorR, whereas
the wild-type fragment was . This preliminary result is consistent
with the idea that each hexamer plays a key role in TorR binding . To
study further the involvement of the TTCATA hexameric sequence in
TorR binding, we replaced each nucleotide of the first hexamer with a
guanine residue (Fig . 1) . Strikingly, no
retardation was observed for any of the six mutated fragments
(mutations 3 to 8), meaning that each nucleotide of the first hexamer
is essential for TorR binding . To confirm that the two hexamers play
a similar role in TorR binding, we replaced one nucleotide of the
second hexamer with a guanine residue . As expected, the mutated DNA
fragment (mutation 10) was no longer retarded by TorR . In contrast, a
point mutation T G
in the four-nucleotide region spacing the tandem repeats did not
significantly affect TorR binding (Fig . 1, mutation
9) . The same results were obtained when TorR was preincubated with
acetyl phosphate (data not shown) . Together, these results strongly
suggest that the DNA recognition site of TorR comprises at least the
sequence TTCATAN4TTCATA, and we propose that like other
members of the OmpR family, phosphorylated TorR binds as a dimer to
its operator site, with each monomer interacting with one direct
repeat (5, 29) .
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FIG . 1 . Effect of mutations in the torE promoter region on the in
vitro binding of TorR . (A) Representation of the wild-type and mutated
promoter regions . The DNA fragments (209 bp) were obtained by PCR with
Erev as the 3' primer and WT, M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7, M8, M9, or M10
as 5' primers leading to the wild type and the corresponding mutated (1
to 10) promoter regions . Positions relative to the transcription start
site are indicated above the sequences . The direct repeats are
underlined . Only bases differing from the wild-type sequence are shown
for the mutated fragments . (B) Gel shift analysis . The labeled fragments
corresponding to the wild type and mutated (1 to 10) promoter regions
were incubated in the absence (–) or presence (+) of a 1 µM
concentration of purified TorR protein . Wt, wild type.
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Binding of TorR to new promoters. The fact that we knew the
specific nucleotide sequence recognized by TorR in the torECAD
promoter prompted us to look for homologous nucleotide sequences
within the genome of S . oneidensis in order to find new
potential targets of TorR . By using the bioMotif utility (http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/doc/bioMotif/),
we retrieved sequences homologous to the consensus sequence TTCATAN4TTCATA,
located in noncoding regions or in the beginning of coding regions .
This survey revealed two additional sequences identical to the
consensus and located upstream of the coding sequences of torR
and of SO4694 (hereafter called torF) and one sequence upstream
of SO0949 containing a single change in one hexamer (Fig.
2A) . Since these sequences could be TorR binding
sites, we checked whether the TorR protein was able to bind to them
in vitro . Using a band shift assay, we observed DNA retardation for
the promoter DNA of torR and torF but not for that of
SO0949 (Fig . 2B) . This result shows that
TorR binds to the torR and torF promoters, and it
confirms that only one base change in one of the TTCATA repeat
sequences prevents TorR binding . The same pattern of retardation was
observed when TorR was preincubated with 100 mM acetyl phosphate, but
the TorR affinity for the torE, torR, and torF
promoter DNA was increased two- to threefold, indicating that
phosphorylation of TorR increased its affinity for the DNA targets
containing the consensus motif (data not shown) .
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FIG . 2 . (A) Alignment of the torE, torR, torF, and
SO0949 promoter regions . The regions protected by TorR are
indicated in bold . The direct repeats are underlined . Positions relative
to the transcription start sites are indicated above the sequences . For
convenience, the complementary sequence of the torR promoter is
presented . The direct repeat sequence of SO0949 is centered at
–165 bp from the initiation codon . (B) Electrophoretic gel shift
analysis of TorR interaction with the torE, torR, torF,
and SO0949 promoters . The DNA fragments containing the torE
(position –90 to + 119 relative to the transcription start site),
torR (position –159 to + 42 relative to the transcription start
site), torF (position –306 to + 80 relative to the transcription
start site), and SO0949 (position –234 to –54 relative to the
initiation codon) promoter regions were obtained by PCR with the primer
pairs Wt-Erev, pR2-pR1, F3-F5, and 949A-949B, respectively . The labeled
fragments were used in gel shift experiments in the presence (+) or
absence (–) of a 1 µM concentration of purified TorR protein . (C)
Analysis of TorR binding to the torR and the torF promoter
regions by DNase I footprinting experiments . The DNA fragments
corresponding to the torR and the torF promoter regions
were obtained by PCR by using the primer pairs labeled pR2-unlabeled pR1
and labeled F5-unlabeled F3, respectively . The labeled DNA fragments
were digested with DNase I in the presence of the following
concentrations of TorR protein: lane 1, no protein; lane 2, 0.25 µM;
lane 3, 1 µM; and lane 4, 2.5 µM . The G+A sequencing ladders are shown,
and the vertical bars indicate the protected regions.
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The same pattern search approach was performed by using a five-nucleotide
spacer between the two hexamers (consensus sequence, TTCATAN5TTCATA) .
Indeed, an additional nucleotide in the spacer modifies the
distance between the nucleotide motif of the hexamers from 10 to 11
bp, meaning that the same motifs are still present on the same side
of the DNA helix and, thus, might still allow TorR binding . However,
no sequence entirely matching the consensus was found within the
S . oneidensis genome, and, out of the seven sequences containing
a single base change in one hexamer, none allowed TorR binding in
vitro (data not shown) . These results support the idea that TorR
recognizes highly specific sequences present at only a restricted
number of sites on the chromosome of S . oneidensis .
To check that TorR binds to the consensus sequence TTCATAN4TTCATA
in the torR and torF promoters, we carried out a DNase I
footprinting analysis with the DNA fragments used for the retardation
experiments . As shown in Fig . 2C, in both cases a
single region was protected against DNase I digestion when TorR was
present . The protected regions extend over 25 to 27 nucleotides, and
they cover the entire direct repeat sequences of the torR and
torF promoters . This finding confirms that TorR recognizes
operator sites containing a TTCATA repeat and suggests that it
controls torR and torF gene expression .
Negative autoregulation of the torR gene. We tried to
define the transcription start site of torR by primer
extension experiments with RNA prepared from S . oneidensis MR1-R
cells grown anaerobically with or without TMAO . These experiments
were unsuccessful, probably because the amount of torR messenger
was too low . To solve this problem, we fused the putative promoter
region of torR to the promoterless lacZ gene of plasmid
pGE593, and we introduced the resulting multicopy plasmid (pPTorRso)
into an E . coli strain (LCB436) from which the entire tor
locus was deleted to avoid any interference . We then carried out
primer extension by using RNA prepared from the plasmid-containing
E . coli cells and a primer hybridizing to the 5' end of lacZ
(Fig . 3B) . A transcription start site was located 23
bases upstream of the torR start codon . To confirm that the
transcription start site of torR was identical in E . coli
and S . oneidensis, we performed RT PCR by using RNA extracted
from strain MR1-R and appropriate convergent oligonucleotide pairs
(Fig . 3) . When the upstream primer (R7) that
hybridizes to the 5' end of the potential torR messenger was
used, a PCR product of the expected size was observed, but when an
upstream primer (R8) complementary to the sequence just upstream of
the putative transcription start site was used, no DNA fragment was
amplified . The RT PCR experiment thus shows that the position of the
torR transcription start site in S . oneidensis is
identical or close to that defined by primer extension in E . coli .
A –10 promoter box (AATAAT) close to the E . coli –10
consensus sequence is correctly positioned relative to the start
site, but the putative –35 box (TATGCA) is far from the E . coli
–35 consensus box (TTGACA), supporting the idea that the torR
promoter is weakly expressed in S . oneidensis . Moreover, one
hexamer of the TorR operator site overlaps the –10 box, and, as a
result, the TorR binding region which extends from position –3 to
position –29 covers the –10 box (Fig . 2) .
Interaction of TorR with the torR promoter might thus hamper
the correct binding of the RNA polymerase to this promoter, and,
consequently, TorR might repress expression of its own gene . To test
a possible negative autoregulation of the torR gene, we
performed real-time PCR from total RNA extracted from MR1-R cells
grown anaerobically with or without TMAO . The cDNA samples were
synthesized by using random hexamers as primers, and the real-time
PCR was carried out by using a torR specific primer pair
(Table 1, R1-R2) . Real-time PCR was also performed
with a 16S-specific primer pair (16S1-16S2) to quantify the amount of
16S RNA in each sample, and the relative level of torR
transcript was then normalized to that of the 16S RNA . As shown in
Table 2, the amount of torR transcript
decreased almost threefold when the cells were grown in the presence
of TMAO, meaning that the expression of torR is negatively
autoregulated, as expected from the in vitro experiments (Fig .
2) . Unfortunately, the control experiment with RNA extracted
from the torR strain (SOR-3) was not feasible because the mutation
in this strain corresponds to an ISSo2 insertion into the torR
promoter region, leading to the absence of torR transcription
(6) . However, the torR transcript levels were
similar in the torS strain (SOS-2) grown with or without TMAO
(induction increased by a factor of 1.3 ± 0.3 [mean ± standard
deviation]), thus confirming that the torR gene is negatively
regulated by phosphorylated TorR .
| TABLE 2 . Analysis of the expression levels of torC, torF, and
torR genes by real-time PCR
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In E . coli, the torR gene is also negatively autoregulated,
but this autoregulation occurs even in a torS strain or in the
absence of TMAO (2) . In fact, the E . coli torR
gene is always repressed because phosphorylated as well as
unphosphorylated TorR binds to a high-affinity binding site
overlapping the torR transcription start site (30) .
The situation is quite different in S . oneidensis since
torR negative autoregulation occurs in the presence of TMAO and,
thus, probably involves only the phosphorylated form of TorR .
Consequently, TorR negative autoregulation maintains the TorR
concentration at a low level whatever the growth conditions in E .
coli, whereas in S . oneidensis, it decreases TorR production
when TMAO is present in the medium . The reason for this subtle
difference is unknown, but, in general, negative autoregulation has
homeostatic properties and allows the production of a precise amount
of regulator in the cell . Although more than one-third of the
transcriptional factors are negatively autoregulated in E . coli,
several response regulators proved to be positively autoregulated (17,
23) . One proposal to explain positive autoregulation
is that an increased concentration of a given response regulator
is required in inducing conditions when the regulator controls
many genes and must, therefore, bind to many targets at the same time
(4) . The restricted number of targets for TorR of
E . coli and S . oneidensis might explain why TorR is negatively
rather than positively autoregulated in both strains .
Activation of the gene torF (SO4694) by TorR.
The transcription start site of torF was defined by a primer
extension experiment with RNA prepared from MR1-R cells grown
anaerobically with TMAO (Fig . 4) . A single start site was
located 34 bases upstream of the torF initiation codon, and a
–10 promoter box (TACGAT) was found correctly positioned relative
to the start site . In contrast, no putative –35 box could be
found 16 to 18 bp upstream of the –10 box, but the TorR binding site
is centered 74 bp upstream of the start site at a position compatible
with that of an activator binding site (Fig . 2 and
4) . To follow expression of torF, we carried out
real-time PCR experiments from total RNA prepared from strains
MR1-R and SOR-3 grown with or without TMAO . As shown in Table
2, torF expression was strongly induced by TMAO in
strain MR1-R since the amount of torF transcript increased
>60-fold when TMAO was added . In contrast, torF was poorly
induced in strain SOR-3 . These results clearly indicate that TorR is
responsible for the strong induction of torF and confirm that
TorR mediates TMAO signaling in S . oneidensis .
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FIG . 4 . (A) Nucleotide sequence of the torF promoter region . The
transcription start site (+1) is indicated . The –10 region is indicated
in bold . The ATG initiation codon and the direct repeats are underlined .
Vertical bars above the sequence are positioned every 10 bases from the
transcription start site . (B) Location of the transcription start point
of gene torF . Labeled F5 primer, complementary to a torF
internal sequence, was annealed to total RNA from S . oneidensis
MR1-R cells grown anaerobically in the presence of TMAO and extended
with RT (lane 1) . The sequencing reactions were performed with the same
primer as in the primer extension reaction . The samples were loaded on
an 8% polyacrylamide-8 M urea electrophoresis gel . The arrow points out
the transcription start site.
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By using a plasmid-borne torE'-lacZ fusion, we have previously
shown that the ß-galactosidase activities increased almost
40-fold in the presence of TMAO in the wild-type context, whereas no
significant increase was observed in the torR strain SOR-3 (6) .
Although these data are consistent with a strong TMAO induction of
the torECAD operon mediated by TorR, they were indirectly
assessed from a multicopy plasmid . To confirm tor operon
activation and to compare it with that of torF, we carried out
real-time PCR with torC-specific primers (C1-C2) and the cDNA
samples generated for the torF expression study . As shown in
Table 2, the torC induction factor was >20-fold
in strain MR1-R, whereas it was close to 1 in strain SOR-3 . The
real-time PCR experiments thus confirm that the torECAD operon
is activated by TorR, but the level of induction is somewhat lower
for the torECAD operon than for the torF gene . This result
was quite unexpected because the torECAD operon encodes the
TMAO reductase respiratory complex and, thus, was supposed to
be the main target of the TMAO response regulator TorR . In any case,
the fact that torF is strongly induced by TorR suggests that
the TorF protein plays a key role either in the TMAO respiratory
system or in another TMAO-related pathway . A genome-wide transcriptional
analysis has recently revealed that in E . coli the TorS/TorR
phosphorelay system positively regulated the tnaLAB operon in
addition to torCAD, but the TMAO induction factors, measured
either from DNA arrays or from lacZ fusions, were clearly higher
for torCAD than for tnaLAB (7) .
TorF belongs to a new family of proteins of unknown function.
The torF gene (SO4694) is a monocistronic unit encoding a putative
protein of 245 residues with a calculated molecular mass of
26,998 Da . The amino acid sequence was compared with those of the
proteins listed in the databases, and significant similarity was
detected with several putative proteins encoded by various genomes of
proteobacteria including Azotobacter vinelandii (Avin4116),
Bordetella pertussis (BP1724), and Caulobacter crescentus
(CC2658) . However, no protein homologous to TorF is encoded by the
related genome of Vibrio cholerae or by that of E . coli,
and, in particular, no similarity was found with either TnaA or TnaB .
Interestingly, one of the homologous proteins is encoded by a gene of
S . oneidensis (SO3502), meaning that the torF
gene might have been duplicated in this strain . So far, no biological
function has been assigned to any of these homologues . These proteins
could thus be classified in a new family of conserved proteins of
unknown function .
Concluding remarks. The analysis of the DNA targets of the
TMAO regulator TorR of S . oneidensis revealed that TorR
recognizes highly specific operator sites containing a direct repeat
of the sequence TTCATA . The TorR binding sites were only found in the
promoters of torECAD, torF, and torR, and they
allow TMAO induction of the torECAD and torF units and
TMAO repression of the torR gene . Since the torF gene
which encodes a protein of unknown function is coregulated with the
torECAD operon encoding the TMAO respiratory system, we
propose that TorF plays a specific role related to TMAO respiration .
Future investigation will aim to define the function of TorF and of
the other members of the TorF family .
We thank A . Manvell and C . Appia-Ayme for reviewing the manuscript,
J . C . Patte for helpful suggestions, and L . Théraulaz for expert
technical assistance . We also thank the Institute for Genomic
Research for genome sequence data .
This work was supported by grants from the Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique and the Université de la Méditerranée . C.B .
was supported by grants from the MENRT and from the Fondation pour la
Recherche Médicale (FRM) .
* Corresponding author . Mailing address: Laboratoire de Chimie
Bactérienne, Institut de Biologie Structurale et Microbiologie, Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique, 31, Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex
20, France . Phone: 33 4 91 16 40 32 . Fax: 33 4 91 71 89 14 . E-mail: mejean@ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr.
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics,
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 .
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