BosR (BB0647) controls the RpoN-RpoS regulatory pathway and virulence expression in Borrelia burgdorferi by a novel DNA-binding mechanism.

ABSTRACT: In Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the Lyme disease spirochete, the alternative σ factor σ⁵⁴ (RpoN) directly activates transcription of another alternative σ factor, σ(S) (RpoS) which, in turn, controls the expression of virulence-associated membrane lipoproteins. As is customary in σ⁵⁴-dependent gene control, a putative NtrC-like enhancer-binding protein, Rrp2, is required to activate the RpoN-RpoS pathway. However, recently it was found that rpoS transcription in Bb also requires another regulator, BosR, which was previously designated as a Fur or PerR homolog. Given this unexpected requirement for a second activator to promote σ⁵⁴-dependent gene transcription, and the fact that regulatory mechanisms among similar species of pathogenic bacteria can be strain-specific, we sought to confirm the

SUBMITTER: Ouyang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3037356 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature