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PMID: 12198157 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

A cell-cell signaling peptide activates the PlcR virulence regulon in bacteria of the Bacillus cereus group.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 21 ·No. 17 ·2002-09-02 ·Pages 4550-9

Slamti L, Lereclus D

Abstract

PlcR is a pleiotropic regulator that activates the expression of genes encoding various virulence factors, such as phospholipases C, proteases and hemolysins, in Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus cereus. Here we show that the activation mechanism is under the control of a small peptide: PapR. The papR gene belongs to the PlcR regulon and is located 70 bp downstream from plcR. It encodes a 48-amino-acid peptide. Disruption of the papR gene abolished expression of the PlcR regulon, resulting in a large decrease in hemolysis and virulence in insect larvae. We demonstrated that the PapR polypeptide was secreted, then reimported via the oligopeptide permease Opp. Once inside the cell, a processed form of PapR, presumably a pentapeptide, activated the PlcR regulon by allowing PlcR to bind to its DNA target. This activating mechanism was found to be strain specific, with this specificity determined by the first residue of the penta peptide.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Bacillus/classification Bacillus cereus/genetics,metabolism,pathogenicity Bacillus thuringiensis/genetics,metabolism,pathogenicity Bacterial Proteins/genetics,metabolism,physiology Gene Deletion Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Genes, Bacterial Membrane Transport Proteins/metabolism Molecular Sequence Data Recombinant Fusion Proteins/physiology Regulon/genetics Sequence Alignment Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Species Specificity Trans-Activators/genetics,metabolism Virulence/genetics
Chemicals
Bacterial Proteins Membrane Transport Proteins PapR protein, Bacillus cereus PlcR protein, Bacillus Recombinant Fusion Proteins Trans-Activators oligopeptide permease, Bacteria
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Slamti Leyla
Unité de Biochimie Microbienne, CNRS (URA2172), Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris, France. [email protected]
Lereclus Didier
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
DOI
10.1093/emboj/cdf450
Email
[email protected]
Published
2002-09-02
Pages
4550-9
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC126190
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
AF465314, AF465315, AF465316, AF465317, AF465318, AF465319, AF465320, AF465321, AF465322, AF465323, AF465324, AF465325, AF465326, AF465327, AF465328, AF465329
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1093/emboj/cdf450 PMC Full Text View journal details
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