Cis- and trans-Regulation of Pneumococcal spxB

ABSTRACT: Pyruvate oxidase encoded by spxB is a major virulence factor in the human respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. During aerobic growth, SpxB synthesizes large amounts of H2O2 and acetyl phosphate, which can serve as a phosphoryl group donor to response regulators and be converted to ATP. SpxB is the main source of the millimolar concentrations of H2O2 produced and tolerated by pneumococcus, despite its lack of a catalase. We report here the first cis- and trans-acting regulatory elements for spxB transcription. These elements were identified in a genetic screen, similar to those used previously for phase variants, for spontaneous mutations that caused colonies of virulent serotype 2 strain D39 to change from a transparent to an opaque appearance. Six of the seven opaque colonies recovered (frequency of 3 x 10-5) were impaired for SpxB function. Modeling suggested that two mutations changed amino acids in SpxB required for FAD cofactor or subunit binding. One mutation deleted a cis-acting adjacent direct repeat required for optimal spxB transcription. The other three independent mutations created the same frameshift near the start of a trans-acting regulatory gene designated as spxR. The SpxR protein contains helix-turn-helix, CBS, and HotDog domains implicated in DNA, adenosine, and CoA compound binding, respectively, consistent with the idea that SpxR positively regulates spxB transcript amount in response to energy and metabolic state rather than oxidative state. Finally, microarray analyses of a null spxB or a spxR mutant revealed the presence of a new oxidative stress response in pneumococcus and unexpectedly demonstrated that SpxR strongly positively regulates the transcript amount of the strH exoglycosidase gene, which like spxB, has been implicated in host colonization. Keywords: genetic modification

ORGANISM(S): Streptococcus pneumoniae

PROVIDER: GSE7109 | GEO | 2008/02/22

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA98413

REPOSITORIES: GEO