Project description:We have used chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by microarray analysis (chIP-chip) to identify DNA regions bound by the ChvI protein in Sinorhizobium meliloti cells. We then used quantitative PCR with chvI mutant strains to test the ChvI-dependent expression of genes downstream of the ChvI-bound DNA regions.
Project description:We characterized transcriptomes of strains containing a K214T mutation in chvI, with and without overexpression of syrA. Our work shows that overexpression of syrA suppresses many of the transcription changes observed in the chvI K214T mutant. Gene expression profiling of a Sinorhizobium meliloti chvI K214 mutant overexpressing syrA was performed using custom Affymetrix GeneChips
Project description:Sinorhizobium meliloti lives as a soil saprophyte, and engages in a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with plant roots. To succeed in such diverse environments, the bacteria must continually adjust gene expression. Transcriptional plasticity in eubacteria is often mediated by alternative sigma factors interacting with core RNA polymerase. The S. meliloti genome encodes 14 of these alternative sigmas, including 11 extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigmas. We used custom Affymetrix Symbiosis Chips to characterize the global transcriptional response of S. meliloti overexpressing the ECF sigma factor, RpoE2. Our work identifies over 200 genes whose expression is dependent on RpoE2.
Project description:Sinorhizobium meliloti can live as a soil saprophyte, and can engage in a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with plant roots. To succeed in such diverse environments, the bacteria must continually adjust gene expression. Transcriptional plasticity in eubacteria is often mediated by alternative sigma factors interacting with core RNA polymerase. The S. meliloti genome encodes 14 of these alternative sigmas, including two putative RpoH (heat shock) sigmas. We used custom Affymetrix Symbiosis Chips to characterize the global transcriptional response of S. meliloti rpoH1, rpoH2 and rpoH1 rpoH2 mutants during heat shock and stationary phase growth. Under these conditions, expression of over 300 genes is dependent on rpoH1 and rpoH2.
Project description:Sinorhizobium meliloti establishes symbiotic relationship with compatible leguminous plants by inducing root nodule formation, colonizing such nodules, and fixing molecular nitrogen for the host in exchange for carbon compounds. This mutualistic process requires complex communication and tight regulation to allow yet constrain infection to specific tissues. Production of succinoglycan, or exopolysaccharide-I (EPS-I), enables S. meliloti to invade the root cortex via infection threads. A previous genetic screen identified jspA (SMc03872), encoding an extracytoplasmic protease, as a regulator of EPS-I production. To elucidate its molecular role, we performed transcriptome analyses of strains overexpressing wild-type or mutant alleles of jspA. We observed changes in gene expression suggesting that JspA contributes to symbiosis efficiency by modulating the critical ExoR-ExoS-ChvI signaling pathway.
Project description:Sinorhizobium meliloti can live as a soil saprophyte, and can engage in a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with plant roots. To succeed in such diverse environments, the bacteria must continually adjust gene expression. Transcriptional plasticity in eubacteria is often mediated by alternative sigma factors interacting with core RNA polymerase. The S. meliloti genome encodes 14 of these alternative sigmas, including two putative RpoH (heat shock) sigmas. We used custom Affymetrix Symbiosis Chips to characterize the global transcriptional response of S. meliloti rpoH1, rpoH2 and rpoH1 rpoH2 mutants during heat shock and stationary phase growth. Under these conditions, expression of over 300 genes is dependent on rpoH1 and rpoH2. Gene expression profiling of Sinorhizobium meliloti Rm1021 and its isogenic rpoH1, rpoH2, and rpoH1rpoH2 mutants, subjected to heat shock or stationary phase growth, was performed using custom Affymetrix GeneChips
Project description:We characterized transcriptomes of a Sinorhizobium meliloti wild type strain (CL150) expressing either Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus ctrA or Sinorhizobium meliloti ctrA
Project description:Sinorhizobium meliloti lives as a soil saprophyte, and engages in a nitrogen fixing symbiosis with plant roots. To succeed in such diverse environments, the bacteria must continually adjust gene expression. Transcriptional plasticity in eubacteria is often mediated by alternative sigma factors interacting with core RNA polymerase. The S. meliloti genome encodes 14 of these alternative sigmas, including 11 extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigmas. We used custom Affymetrix Symbiosis Chips to characterize the global transcriptional response of S. meliloti overexpressing the ECF sigma factor, RpoE2. Our work identifies over 200 genes whose expression is dependent on RpoE2. The gene expression profile of Sinorhizobium meliloti strain CL150 carrying the rpoE2 gene on a plasmid, where it was expressed from a melibiose-inducible promoter (the S. meliloti PmelA promoter), was compared to the gene expression profile of CL150 carrying the corresponding empty vector (pCAP11). CL150 is an Rm1021 strain that has been corrected for two point mutations: it is wild type for ecfR1 and pstC.