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PMID: 2874022 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Two regulatory fim genes, fimB and fimE, control the phase variation of type 1 fimbriae in Escherichia coli.

The EMBO journal ·Vol. 5 ·No. 6 ·1986-06-00 ·Pages 1389-93

Klemm P

Abstract

The expression of type 1 fimbriae in Escherichia coli is phase dependent, i.e. a cell is either completely fimbriated or bald. This phenomenon is due to the periodic inversion of a specific 300-bp DNA segment containing the promoter for the fimbrial subunit gene, fimA. The phase switch is controlled by the products of two regulatory genes, fimB and fimE, located upstream of fimA. The fimB and fimE proteins direct the phase switch into the 'on' and 'off' position, respectively. The DNA sequence of a 3000-bp region containing the two genes has been determined. The fimB and fimE proteins exhibit strong homology and have most likely originated by duplication of an ancestral gene. They are highly basic implying that they control the phase switch through interaction at the DNA level.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins/genetics Base Sequence DNA, Recombinant/metabolism Escherichia coli/genetics Fimbriae, Bacterial/physiology Genes Genes, Bacterial Genes, Regulator Plasmids
Chemicals
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins DNA, Recombinant
Authors & Affiliations
1 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Klemm P
References (20)
20 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
The EMBO journal
Abbr.
EMBO J
ISSN
0261-4189
Published
1986-06-00
Pages
1389-93
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8208664
PMCID
PMC1166953
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
X03923
External Links
PubMed source PMC Full Text View journal details
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