Contribution of rapid evolution of the luxR-luxI intergenic region to the diverse bioluminescence outputs of Vibrio fischeri strains isolated from different environments.

ABSTRACT: Vibrio fischeri serves as a valuable model of bacterial bioluminescence, its regulation, and its functional significance. Light output varies more than 10,000-fold in wild-type isolates from different environments, yet dim and bright strains have similar organization of the light-producing lux genes, with the activator-encoding luxR divergently transcribed from luxICDABEG. By comparing the genomes of bright strain MJ11 and the dimmer ES114, we found that the lux region has diverged more than most shared orthologs, including those flanking lux. Divergence was particularly high in the intergenic sequence between luxR and luxI. Analysis of the intergenic lux region from 18 V. fischeri strains revealed that, with one exception, sequence divergence essentially mirrored strain phylogeny but with

SUBMITTER: Bose JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3067414 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature