AraC Family Of Transcriptional Activators Research Articles

Site of transcriptional activation of virB on the large plasmid of Shigella flexneri 2a by VirF, a member of the AraC family of transcriptional activators

VirB plays a central role in the regulation of virulence of Shigella flexneri. It acts as a transcriptional activator and is itself transcriptionally activated by another virulence protein, VirF. Experiments were performed in order to identify the site upstream of virB at which VirF binds in order to activate transcription. Progressive 5′ deletions of the DNA upstream of the transcription start point of virB were constructed by subcloning and Bal31 deletion. These deletion derivatives were cloned into the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene plasmid pKK232-8 and the resulting plasmids were analysed using a CAT activity assay. This allowed identification of minimal regions required for virB promoter activity and regions required for full enhancement of promoter activity by VirF. A region approximately 100 bp upstream from the transcription start point of virB was identified as being necessary for full activation of this promoter by VirF. This region encompasses at least one inverted repeat which may play a role in transcription repression in the absence of the activator protein, VirF.

Homology of TcpN, a putative regulatory protein of Vibrio cholerae, to the AraC family of transcriptional activators

The nucleotide sequence has been determined for the gene designated tcpN, encoding a putative regulatory protein within the tcp gene cluster associated with the biosynthesis and assembly of the toxin-coregulated pilus of Vibrio cholerae. It is preceded by a powerful transcriptional terminator which presumably delimits the major tcp operon, but at its 3′ end is translationally coupled to the gene, tcpJ, encoding the TCP pilin signal peptidase. The tcpN gene encodes a putative 276-residue protein of 31 890 Da. This TcpN shows a high degree of homology to the transcriptional activators, Rns, associated with pilus biosynthesis in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, and to VirF, which controls the Yersinia virulence regulon. This homology also extends to the C termini of other members of the AraC family of transcriptional regulators, including RHaS, RhaR and CelD.