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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2003, p . 3508-3514, Vol . 185,
No . 12
PhoP-Responsive Expression of the Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium
slyA Gene
Valia A . Norte, Melanie R . Stapleton, and Jeffrey Green*
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Krebs Institute for
Biomolecular Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United
Kingdom
Received 11 October 2002/ Accepted 22 March 2003
The SlyA protein of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is
a member of the MarR family of transcription regulators and is
required for virulence and survival in professional macrophages .
Isolated SlyA protein was able to bind a specific DNA target without
posttranslational modification . This suggested that SlyA might not be
activated by directly sensing an external signal but rather that the
intracellular concentration of SlyA is enhanced in appropriate
environments through the action of other transcription factors .
Analysis of slyA transcription reveals the presence of a
promoter region located upstream of the previously recognized SlyA
repressed promoter . The newly identified upstream promoter region did
not respond to SlyA but was activated by Mg(II) starvation in a
PhoP-dependent manner . We present here evidence for a direct link
between two transcription factors (PhoP and SlyA) crucial for
Salmonella virulence .
The Salmonella transcription factor SlyA has been shown to be
required for virulence in mice and for survival within tissues of the
reticuloendothelial system (4, 7,
12) . Moreover, Salmonella slyA strains are
sensitive to products of the respiratory burst, have a
stationary-phase survival defect, and are attenuated in the presence
of macrophages (4, 24) . It has been
suggested that SlyA is particularly important in systemic
salmonellosis (25) . Further investigation of the
slyA phenotype indicated that SlyA acts as both an activator
and a repressor of gene expression (4) . Reduced
levels of FliC and IroN, elevated levels of PagC, and altered
patterns of Omp proteins were found to be associated with a slyA
lesion (24) . Moreover, a recent proteomic analysis
revealed that SlyA affected the levels of 23 proteins with a variety
of roles, including the response to oxidative stress (23) .
Thus, SlyA is a global transcription factor that is important for
pathogenesis .
SlyA is a member of the MarR family of transcription factors .
Members of this family are found in bacteria and archaea and play
important roles in bacterial virulence . For example, the
Escherichia coli MarR and EmrR proteins regulate genes involved
in antibiotic resistance, PecS from Erwinia chrysanthemi controls
pectinase and cellulase production, and RovA of Yersinia spp .
regulates invasin expression (16, 17,
20) . Recently, the crystal structure of MarR was
determined (2) . This revealed that the protein is a
dimer with each subunit possessing a winged-helix-turn-helix
DNA-binding motif (2) . SlyA has also been shown to be a
homodimer that negatively regulates its own expression (24) .
The Salmonella SlyA protein has been purified from an E .
coli expression strain and the isolated protein was able to
recognize and preferentially bind at a DNA sequence consisting of an
inverted repeat (TTAGCAAGCTAA) within the slyA promoter (24) .
Because the isolated SlyA protein was able to specifically bind
target DNA, it was suggested that SlyA itself might not sense an
environmental signal but that another transcription factor,
responding to a relevant signal, upregulates slyA expression (24) .
As a consequence the intracellular concentration of SlyA would
increase to a level at which SlyA is able to bind DNA and regulate
the transcription of target genes . Thus, the starting point for the
work described here was to investigate factors affecting the
regulation of slyA expression . A new slyA promoter
region was identified that was positively regulated by PhoP . Thus, a
link was established between two transcription factors (PhoP and
SlyA) crucial for Salmonella virulence .
Bacterial strains and plasmids. The bacterial strains and
plasmids used in the present study are listed in Table
1 . DNA manipulations were performed by using standard protocols (21) .
The various slyA promoter regions were amplified by PCR with
primers designed to introduce EcoRI and BamHI
restriction sites to allow ligation into pRW50 (13) . The
authenticities of the PCR products were established by automated
DNA sequencing . The Salmonella phoP strain was constructed by
linear transformation of ST12/75 carrying pTP223 . Plasmid pTP223
encodes the lam, bet, and exo genes of phage lambda,
under the control of the IPTG (isopropyl-ß-D-thiogalactopyranoside)-inducible
lac promoter (19) . The lambda genes promote
targeted recombination with short regions of homology . Two PCR
primers (Table 1) containing 40 bases of phoP
sequence and 20 bases of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (cat)
cassette from pACYC184 (5) were used to amplify the
entire cat cassette flanked by phoP sequences . The
linear PCR product was introduced into ST12/75 (pTP223) by
electroporation, and chloramphenicol-resistant colonies were selected
at 37°C . The amplified DNA promoted the replacement of 696 bp of the
phoP gene, including amino acids 1 to 203 of PhoP, by the
cat cassette . After the strain was cured of pTP223, the location
of the phoP::cat lesion was confirmed by PCR from
genomic DNA of a representative transformant (JRG4844) .
| TABLE 1 . Bacterial strains, plasmids, and oligonucleotides
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Growth conditions. The growth media used in the present study
are listed below . To measure the effects of progressive deletion of
DNA from the slyA promoter region and for general culturing of
bacteria, a rich medium (tryptone, 10 g liter-1; yeast
extract, 5 g liter-1; NaCl, 5 g liter-1) was
used . In other experiments a Tris minimal medium (100 mM Tris-HCl [pH
7.2], 11 mM glucose, 5 mM NH4Cl, 10 mM KH2PO4,
0.5 mM K2SO4, 0.1 mM CaCl2, 10 mM MgCl2)
was used . For Mg(II)-starved cultures, the concentration of MgCl2
was reduced to 0.01 mM and the CaCl2 was omitted . For
phosphate-starved cultures, KH2PO4 was reduced
to 0.1 mM . For nitrogen-starved cultures NH4Cl was reduced
to 0.5 mM . The chelator deferoxamine mesylate (0.3 mM) was used to
sequester Fe(III) and, when indicated, FeCl3 was added to
cultures at a final concentration of 0.1 mM . For investigation of the
effects of pH on slyA expression a Bis-Tris minimal medium was
used (8) . Media were supplemented with antibiotics
(tetracycline, 10 µg ml-1; chloramphenicol, 10 µg ml-1)
when appropriate . The solid medium used for investigating the
phenotype of the slyA mutant was Tris minimal medium (pH 7.2)
containing 22 mM glucose, 0.5% agarose, and 10 or 0.25 mM MgCl2 .
ß-Galactosidase assay. For ß-galactosidase activity
measurements (15), aerobic cultures were grown in
shaking (250 rpm) 100-ml flasks containing 5 ml of the indicated
medium at 37°C for either 6 h (exponential phase) or 16 h (stationary
phase) .
Transcript mapping by primer extension. The transcription
start point of the upstream slyA promoter(s) was determined by
RNA extraction and primer extension . Total RNA was prepared from
stationary-phase (24 h) strain ST12/75(pGS1534) grown aerobically in
Mg(II)-starved Tris minimal medium by using a Qiagen RNeasy kit . For
primer extension, the method outlined in the Qiagen Omniscript
reverse transcription (RT) instruction manual was used with 10 µg of
RNA and Omniscript reverse transcriptase (20 U; Qiagen) . After
ethanol precipitation the cDNA was fractionated on 6%
urea-polyacrylamide gels for autoradiographic analysis . The gels were
calibrated with a sequence ladder from the same DNA and primer .
RT-PCR. For RT-PCR, total RNA was isolated from
stationary-phase cultures grown in Bis-Tris minimal medium containing
either 10 mM Mg(II) or 0.01 mM Mg(II) . A specific oligonucleotide
(CATCTCAGCGATCAGCGGCTC) designed to complement the 3' end of the
slyA gene was used to prime the Omniscript (Qiagen) reverse
transcriptase (4 U) . The resulting cDNA was used as the template for
PCR amplification (using Taq polymerase) of fragments located
within the slyA transcripts in the presence of [ -32P]dCTP
(225 kBq) . To prevent the amplification of any genomic DNA carried
over during total RNA isolation, RNA preparations were digested with
DNase I before cDNA production . The Mg(II)-responsive pagD
transcript and the unresponsive dam transcript were used as
positive and negative controls . The reactions were analyzed by
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (6% Tris-borate-EDTA-buffered
polyacrylamide gels) and autoradiography . Products were quantified by
densitometry . The relevant primers were as follows: T1,
TGGAATCGCCACTAGGTTCTG; T2, GCCAAGTGCGCACTATGTCTG; T3,
GTAAGGGCAATCCTGTGGCGT; >T3, TTTTGAATTCGCAAAGCGTAAAGAGGGAGAGATC;
pagD (reverse), CGTCATTGACTGGTGCGGACA; pagD (forward),
CAGTTCAGGCCATTGTTCTGG; dam (reverse), CGACTCCTGGTTACAGA; and
dam (forward), CGAGTGCCTTGTCGAACCTT .
Dissection of the slyA promoter region. The starting
point for this work was the construction of a series of slyA::lacZ
promoter fusions in the low-copy-number plasmid pRW50 (13) .
In this series (S1 to S6, Fig . 1A), the DNA upstream
of the previously mapped slyA transcription start (T1 in Fig .
1A) varied between 46 and 593 bp . Thus, measurement of
ß-galactosidase activity was used to identify promoter elements that
influence expression of the Salmonella slyA gene . During
aerobic growth deletion of the section between positions -593 and
-237 enhanced slyA expression by
10-fold
compared to the full-length promoter (compare S1 with S2) (Fig.
1A) . This enhancement was abolished by further
deletion to position -152 (S3) . More extensive deletions reduced
transcription still further, with the exception of the section
extending from position -68 (S5), which had slightly greater activity
than promoter sequences beginning at position -108 (S4) or position
-46 (S6) (Fig . 1A) . These data suggested that an
activatory element was located between positions -237 and -152 . Thus,
a further slyA::lacZ fusion was created that
encompassed the region from positions -593 to -136 (S7) . Low levels
of ß-galactosidase activity were observed with this latter lacZ
fusion, suggesting the presence of a weak slyA promoter
located between positions -593 and -136 . Therefore, primer extension
was used to investigate whether any slyA transcripts initiate
in this region . Two new transcripts, a minor product beginning at
position -209 (T3) and a major product beginning at position -156
(T2), (numbering relative to T1) were detected (Fig . 1B) .
However, the sum of the activities of the downstream (represented by
slyA::lacZ fusion S7) and upstream (represented by
slyA::lacZ fusion S3) promoters did not approach the activity
associated with S2, suggesting that there must be some synergistic
interaction between the promoters that is partially dampened by
the action of an as-yet-unidentified factor acting between positions
-593 and -237 .
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FIG . 1 . Identification of a second slyA promoter region . (A)
ß-Galactosidase activities of aerobically grown cultures of ST12/75 each
containing one of a series (S1 to S6) of slyA::lacZ
fusions in which DNA upstream of the previously established transcript
start (T1, solid arrow) (24), was progressively
deleted . The slyA DNA ends at position +165 in this series of
fusions . A further slyA::lacZ fusion (S7) in which the
previously recognized slyA promoter (T1) was deleted was also
analyzed . The solid box indicates the region of the promoter protected
by SlyA in footprinting studies . Two newly identified slyA
transcript starts (T2 and T3, open arrows; see panel B) are also
indicated . ß-Galactosidase activities were measured in duplicate from at
least two independent cultures; the means ± the standard errors are
shown . Units of ß-galactosidase activity are as defined by Miller (15) .
(B) Primer extension analysis of RNA isolated form ST12/75(pGS1534) .
Lanes C, T, G, and A are the sequence ladders for this region of slyA;
lane 1 shows the primer extension products from the slyA gene.
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Effect of growth conditions on slyA expression. To
investigate whether conditions could be identified in which
expression from the slyA::lacZ fusion S1 (Fig . 1A)
could approach that observed with the S2 fusion, cultures were grown
under a variety of conditions and ß-galactosidase activities
were measured (Table 2) . Although expression levels did
not reach those estimated for the S2 fusion, the experiments showed
that the expression of slyA was reduced in nitrogen-starved
cultures, slightly ( 50%)
higher in phosphate-starved cultures, and significantly enhanced in
Mg(II)-starved cultures . Moreover, the
4-fold
enhancement in slyA expression under conditions of Mg(II)
limitation suggests that the Mg(II)-responsive PhoP-PhoQ
two-component system (9) might be involved in regulating
slyA expression .
| TABLE 2 . Expression of slyA::lacZ (S1) under different
growth conditions
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It has previously been observed that under certain conditions slyA
expression is maximal in stationary-phase cultures (4) .
Therefore, the response of the S1 slyA::lacZ fusion to
growth under conditions of Mg(II) starvation was monitored by
measuring ß-galactosidase activities in exponential- and
stationary-phase cultures grown in Mg(II)-replete (10 mM) and
Mg(II)-starved (0.01 mM) conditions . The data obtained suggested that
the response to Mg(II) starvation was more marked in stationary-phase
cultures ( 4.4-fold
enhancement) than in exponential-phase cultures ( 1.4-fold
enhancement) (Table 2) . Moreover, in the Mg(II)-replete
cultures slyA expression was not enhanced in the stationary
phase compared to the exponential-phase cultures (Table
2) . This suggests that Mg(II) starvation is the trigger that
promotes slyA expression in stationary-phase cultures .
To test whether the plasmid-based transcription studies accurately
reflected the normal regulation of the slyA gene on the chromosome
total RNA was prepared from cultures grown under Mg(II)-starved
and Mg(II)-replete conditions . RT-PCR showed that slyA transcripts
extended as far as T3 (Fig . 2) . The T2 transcript was
highly induced under Mg(II)-starved conditions compared to
Mg(II)-replete conditions (Fig . 2) . Note that the
T1 transcript was increased by a similar amount because it is
embedded within the T2 transcript . A known Mg(II)-responsive
transcript, pagD (10), behaved as expected,
as did the PhoP-unresponsive (11) dam transcript .
A forward primer located upstream of T3 (>T3) failed to yield
significant levels of product under both growth conditions,
suggesting that there are no further promoters upstream of T3 .
Therefore, it was concluded that the plasmid-based reporters were
representative of chromosomal slyA regulation .
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FIG . 2 . Effect of Mg(II) on transcription of chromosomal slyA .
Expression of slyA was estimated by RT-PCR with total RNA (2 µg)
isolated from Mg(II)-replete (open bars) and Mg(II)-starved (solid bars)
stationary-phase cultures as the template . Oligonucleotide primers
complementary to the T1, T2, and T3 transcript starts, as well as a
primer complementary to a region upstream of T3 (>T3), were used to
define the upstream limit of the slyA message . The
Mg(II)-responsive pagD and unresponsive dam transcripts
served as controls . Radiolabeled PCR products were separated on
polyacrylamide gels, and the amount of product formed was estimated by
quantitative densitometry of the corresponding autoradiographs .
Representative autoradiographs are shown above the bar chart.
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The effect of PhoP on slyA expression. To test whether
PhoP-mediated the enhanced expression of slyA under conditions
of Mg(II) starvation, ß-galactosidase activities were measured for
parental and phoP strains containing the S1 slyA::lacZ
promoter fusion . The data obtained show that slyA expression
was enhanced in the Mg(II)-starved parental culture but that this was
not the case for the phoP strain (Fig . 3) .
This suggests that PhoP either directly or indirectly activates
slyA expression during exposure of bacteria to low-Mg(II) conditions .
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FIG . 3 . Transcription from the upstream region of the slyA
promoter is regulated by PhoP in response to Mg(II) starvation .
ß-Galactosidase activities were measured for cultures of ST12/75 and
ST12/75 phoP
containing the indicated slyA::lacZ fusion (S1, S3, or S7;
see Fig . 1A) in Mg(II)-replete (open bars) and
Mg(II)-starved (solid bars) minimal medium . ß-Galactosidase activities
were measured in triplicate from at least two independent cultures;
means ± the standard errors are shown . Units of ß-galactosidase activity
are as defined by Miller (15).
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To determine which region of the slyA promoter was responding
to PhoP, expression from the slyA::lacZ promoter fusions S3
(T1 promoter only) and S7 (T2 and T3 promoters) was compared to
that obtained with S1 (T1, T2, and T3 promoters) . The activity of the
S3 fusion was similar in both parental and phoP strains (Fig.
3) . Moreover, in contrast to the S1 fusion, expression
from the S3 fusion was lower in the parental Mg(II)-starved
cultures (Fig . 3) . This suggests that the promoter associated
with transcript 1 (T1) is unresponsive to PhoP and Mg(II) availability .
However, the activity of the S7 fusion did respond to Mg(II)
starvation in a PhoP-dependent manner (Fig . 3) .
To further delimit the site of PhoP action, three more slyA::lacZ
fusions (S8, S9, and S10; Fig . 4A) were created with
deletions upstream of T2 and T3 . The activities of these promoters
did not approach that of the S2 fusion in rich medium (Fig.
1A), suggesting that the negatively acting element
is located between positions -292 and -237 and that T1 is the
probable source of the enhanced activity of the S2 fusion . The
response to Mg(II) starvation of these new fusions was then tested .
These experiments revealed that ß-galactosidase activities from all
three strains were elevated in Mg(II)-starved cultures . Consequently,
it was concluded that the site of PhoP action was located between
positions -237 and -136 . When transcription from the S7 fusion
(Fig . 1) was tested in a slyA strain, the
ß-galactosidase activities were similar [124 ± 4 Miller units in
Mg(II)-replete cultures and 324 ± 31 Miller units in Mg(II)-starved
cultures] to those obtained for the parental strain [87 ± 16
Miller units in Mg(II)-replete cultures and 402 ± 44 Miller units in
Mg(II)-starved cultures], and thus it was concluded that SlyA does
not regulate expression from the newly identified upstream slyA
promoter .
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FIG . 4 . The slyA T2 transcript is Mg(II) responsive . (A)
ß-Galactosidase activities of aerobic cultures of ST12/75 containing the
indicated slyA::lacZ fusion (S1, S8, S9, or S10) in
Mg(II)-replete and Mg(II)-starved minimal medium . ß-Galactosidase
activities were measured in duplicate from at least two independent
cultures; means ± the standard errors are shown . Units of
ß-galactosidase activity are as defined by Miller (15) .
(B) Sequence of the PhoP-responsive slyA promoter . The locations
of the 5' ends of the major T2 and the minor T3 upstream slyA
transcripts are indicated . Potential -10 and -35 elements associated
with T2 are indicated.
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A consensus PhoP box has been defined as a direct repeat of two
heptanucleotide consisting of (T)G(T)TT(AA) by analysis of promoter
regions of PhoP-regulated genes and by footprinting of the mgtA-treR
intergenic region (9, 27) . Inspection of
the DNA sequence of the S10 slyA::lacZ fusion
(positions -237 to -136) revealed no close matches to a PhoP box
(Fig . 4B), suggesting that PhoP acts indirectly .
Among the genes upregulated by PhoP is pmrD (9) .
PmrD mediates transcriptional activation of genes that are regulated
by the PmrA-PmrB two-component sensor regulator during growth in low
concentrations of Mg(II) . Alternatively, PmrA-PmrB can be activated
by extracellular Fe(III) (26) . Thus, if PhoP acts
through PmrA to enhance slyA expression, the activity of the
S10 slyA::lacZ fusion might be expected to respond to
extracellular Fe(III) in both Mg(II)-replete and Mg(II)-starved
cultures . However, experiments in which Tris-minimal medium was
supplemented with Fe(III) or with the Fe(III) chelator deferoxamine
revealed that expression from the S10 slyA::lacZ fusion
was not influenced by extracellular Fe(III) (not shown) . Accordingly,
inspection of the S10 slyA DNA sequence did not reveal any
good matches to the PmrA consensus, which consists of
YTTAAKNNNNYTTAAK (1) .
It has been shown that expression of a slyA::lacZ fusion
possessing all of the transcript starts identified here is enhanced
in the stationary phase (4) . Experiments with the
S1 slyA::lacZ fusion, which encodes all three slyA
transcripts, suggested that Mg(II) starvation triggered
stationary-phase induction of slyA expression (see above) . To
test whether the T2 and T3 transcripts responded to growth phase, the
activity of the S7 fusion was measured in exponential- and
stationary-phase cultures grown in Mg(II)-replete and Mg(II)-starved
Tris-minimal medium with glucose as the carbon source . This showed
that the upstream promoter(s) were responsive to growth phase under
these conditions, with an
5-fold
enhancement in stationary-phase cultures compared to
exponential-phase cultures (79 Miller units compared to 15 Miller
units) grown in Mg(II)-replete medium . A similar enhancement ( 6-fold)
was observed for cultures grown in Mg(II)-starved medium (326 Miller
units compared to 52 Miller units) . These observations suggest that
the upstream promoter region is growth phase responsive irrespective
of the Mg(II) status of the growth medium . However, it was noted that
the pH of these cultures became more acidic as growth proceeded, and
it is known that a subset of PhoP-regulated genes respond to mild
acid pH . Although it is thought that PhoP-PhoQ are not directly
involved in this acid response (9), it was of
interest to investigate the activity of the PhoP-regulated slyA
promoter during growth under acidic conditions . The activity of the
S7 slyA::lacZ fusion was monitored in aerobic exponential-
and stationary-phase cultures grown in Bis-Tris minimal medium
buffered at pH 7.2 and pH 5.8 . When the pH of Mg(II)-replete cultures
was maintained at pH 7.2, ß-galactosidase activities were not
enhanced in stationary phase (Fig . 5) . However, at
pH 5.8 expression from the S7 slyA::lacZ fusion was enhanced
in stationary-phase cultures versus exponential-phase cultures .
Moreover, compared to values obtained at pH 7.2, slyA::lacZ
expression was higher at pH 5.8 under Mg(II)-replete conditions
(Fig . 5) . This suggests that transcription from the upstream
slyA promoter during Mg(II)-replete growth (open bars in Fig .
5) is enhanced under acidic growth conditions, and this
is most readily apparent in the stationary phase .
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FIG . 5 . Effect of culture pH and Mg(II) availability on slyA
expression . ß-Galactosidase activities were measured for cultures of
ST12/75 containing the S7 slyA::lacZ fusion (see Fig.
1A) in Mg(II)-replete (10 mM, open bars) and
Mg(II)-starved (0.01 mM, solid bars) Bis-Tris minimal medium buffered at
either pH 7.2 or pH 5.8 . ß-Galactosidase activities were measured in
triplicate, and the mean values that varied by <10% are presented . Units
of ß-galactosidase activity are as defined by Miller (15).
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In contrast to the Mg(II)-replete cultures, when the pH of Mg(II)-starved
cultures was maintained at pH 7.2 slyA expression was significantly
enhanced in the stationary phase (solid bars in Fig . 5) .
Moreover, exponential-phase expression was also greater than for the
corresponding Mg(II)-replete cultures . In Mg(II)-starved cultures
maintained at pH 5.8, slyA::lacZ, expression in the
exponential phase was enhanced compared to cultures held at pH 7.2,
and expression was further enhanced in the stationary phase (Fig.
5) . The response to Mg(II) starvation was most
marked in stationary-phase cultures maintained at pH 7.2 (Fig.
5) . Thus, at both pH values tested the
stationary-phase induction of expression from the upstream slyA
promoter region was enhanced in response to Mg(II) starvation .
Phenotypic effects of a slyA lesion. A number of
slyA-associated phenotypes have been determined, including
sensitivity to oxidative stress, attenuation for virulence in mice,
reduced survival in the stationary phase, and the inability to
survive within tissues of the reticuloendothelial system (4,
7, 12, 24) . The
regulatory studies described above suggested that slyA
expression is upregulated in response to Mg(II) starvation,
stationary phase, and acidity, which is consistent with elevated
expression of SlyA during infection (9) . Consequently, it
might be expected that a slyA mutant would display a phenotype
under conditions of Mg(II) starvation . It has been shown that phoP
strains have altered growth kinetics in medium containing low
levels of Mg(II) (3, 22) . However, growth
of the parent and slyA strains was similar in low-Mg(II)
liquid cultures (not shown) . Because growth in Mg(II)-starved broth
cultures is unaffected by lesions in some genes of the PhoP regulon,
growth of the slyA strain on solid medium containing either 10
or 0.25 mM Mg(II) was investigated . Both parent and mutant strains
were able to grow, but there was a clear morphological phenotype
associated with the slyA lesion (Fig . 6) .
Although parent and slyA strains had a similar appearance when
grown on the Mg(II)-replete medium, the colonies of the parental
strain responded to the low-Mg(II) medium by becoming mucoidal,
whereas the colonies of the slyA strain retained the same
morphology as that observed when grown on the high-Mg(II) medium .
This result suggests that SlyA mediates the adaptation of the cell
envelope properties of Salmonella in response to Mg(II) when
cultured on a solid surface .
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FIG . 6 . Growth of ST12/75 and ST12/75 ( slyA)
on solid medium containing high or low levels of Mg(II) . The indicated
strains were grown for 48 h at 37°C on agarose medium containing either
10 mM MgCl2 (upper row) or 0.25 mM MgCl2 (lower
row).
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Previous studies have shown that SlyA negatively regulates its own
expression by occlusion of a promoter with a transcription start
located 41 bp upstream of the translational start site (24) .
We have now identified two further transcripts originating in the
far-upstream region of the slyA promoter . Transcription from
this upstream region is unaffected by SlyA but is enhanced in
Mg(II)-starved cultures . This latter response is dependent on the
PhoP-PhoQ two-component system . Thus, we provide evidence for an
intimate link between two Salmonella transcription factors,
namely, PhoP and SlyA, that are required for virulence .
The PhoP-PhoQ system is required for Salmonella virulence in
mice, for survival within macrophages, and to resist killing by
some antimicrobial peptides (for reviews, see references
6 and 9) . PhoP-PhoQ also controls the
modification of the cell envelope components of Salmonella .
The signal sensed by PhoP-PhoQ is extracellular Ca(II) and Mg(II)
and, whereas the levels of these cations are relatively high in
extracellular spaces, they are low in the phagosomal vacuoles of host
cells . Thus, it appears that the PhoP-PhoQ system can sense whether
the bacteria are inside or outside a host cell and adapt the surface
properties of the bacterium accordingly (6) . Like
PhoP-PhoQ, SlyA is required for survival in the macrophage
environment and influences the cell envelope of Salmonella (4,
7, 12, 24) . Therefore,
both PhoP-PhoQ and SlyA are active in the same environment, and it
is likely that the relationship between PhoP and SlyA identified
here has evolved to integrate some of the responses to the plethora
of signals [for example, Mg(II) starvation and acidity] received
while within a host . Such a coordinated transcriptional response
is probably crucial for Salmonella strains to adapt to and survive
within such a potentially hostile environment . Consequently, it
is not surprising to find that Salmonella strains lacking
either of these key regulators are attenuated .
The section of the slyA promoter that responds to Mg(II) availability
via PhoP contains two possible transcript starts: a minor transcript
(T3) and a major transcript (T2) . We believe that it is more
likely that the T2 region responds to Mg(II), rather than the T3
region, for three reasons . First, the slyA::lacZ fusion S10
has only 29 bp of slyA sequence upstream of the T3 transcript,
and yet this fusion is fully Mg(II) responsive . Second, there
is no obvious -10 or -35 element associated with the T3 transcript,
whereas such features are identifiable for the T2 transcript . Third,
the induction of the T2 transcript in low- compared to high-Mg(II)
cultures, as estimated by RT-PCR, is much greater than that observed
for the T3 transcript (Fig . 2) . Analysis of the DNA
sequence upstream of T2 revealed no close matches to consensus sites
of the virulence-associated transcription factors: PhoP-PhoQ (27),
PmrA-PmrB (1), HilA (14), HilC, or
HilD (18) . Thus, the factor through which PhoP-PhoQ
exerts its effects (factor X in Fig . 7) is unknown .
Clearly, future studies should concentrate on identifying the
transcription factors involved and on characterizing their cognate
binding sites and their relationships to PhoP-PhoQ .
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FIG . 7 . Model for PhoP-mediated regulation of slyA expression .
Intracellular Salmonella are exposed to a low-Mg(II) environment .
This is sensed by the periplasmic domain of PhoQ protein and,
consequently, the phospho-PhoP dephosphorylase activity of PhoQ is
inhibited . Phospho-PhoP regulates the expression of >40 genes . We
suggest that there is an as-yet-unidentified transcription factor (X),
which activates transcription from the slyA promoter T2 .
Alternatively, if factor X acts as a repressor of the slyA T2
promoter, PhoP-PhoQ might repress the expression of X and thereby
relieve repression of slyA expression . Consequently, the
intracellular concentration of SlyA is increased to a level at which it
can regulate transcription from its target promoters, including
repression of the slyA T1 promoter.
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In conclusion, the work described here has established an intimate
link between two transcription factors that are required for the
survival of Salmonella in the macrophage environment . By
linking the expression of transcription factors in this way a variety
of signals can be integrated into a transcriptional cascade to
produce an optimal pattern of gene expression for a particular niche .
Such relationships between transcription factors are likely to be
crucial in coordinating an appropriate transcriptional response to
the host environment .
We thank A . J . G . Moir for DNA sequencing . We thank Stephen Libby
(North Carolina State University, Raleigh) and Tim Wallis (IAH,
Compton, United Kingdom) for bacterial strains .
The BBSRC UK supported this work with a research studentship
(M.R.S.) and through project grant BFP11284 .
* Corresponding author . Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research,
University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom . Phone:
44-114-222-4403 . Fax: 44-114-272-8697 . E-mail: jeff.green@shef.ac.uk.
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