Overcoming H-NS-mediated transcriptional silencing of horizontally acquired genes by the PhoP and SlyA proteins in Salmonella enterica.

ABSTRACT: The acquisition of new traits through horizontal gene transfer depends on the ability of the recipient organism to express the incorporated genes. However, foreign DNA appears to be silenced by the histone-like nucleoid-structuring protein (H-NS) in several enteric pathogens, raising the question of how this silencing is overcome and the acquired genes are expressed at the right time and place. To address this question, we investigated transcription of the horizontally acquired ugtL and pagC genes from Salmonella enterica, which is dependent on the regulatory DNA-binding proteins PhoP and SlyA. We reconstituted transcription of the ugtL and pagC genes in vitro and determined occupancy of their respective promoters by PhoP, H-NS, and RNA polymerase in vivo. The SlyA protein counteracted H-N

SUBMITTER: Perez JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2447644 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature