Expression of the O antigen gene cluster is regulated by RfaH through the JUMPstart sequence

Abstract

O antigen genes are clustered, with a JUMPstart sequence located upstream. JUMPstart is a 39-bp sequence, present upstream of many polysaccharide gene clusters and also upstream of haemolysin and F factor gene clusters. RfaH is known to regulate the expression of E. coli group II capsule, haemolysin, F factor and the outer core of lipopolysaccharide all of which have the JUMPstart sequence, and has been shown to function as a transcriptional antiterminator in some cases. Using lacZ fusions to genes in the O antigen gene cluster of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, we found that RfaH also regulates the expression of O antigen. We showed that RfaH enhances expression of the 18-kb O antigen gene cluster, with promoter-distal genes affected more dramatically. We also showed that the JUMPstart sequence was required for RfaH function.