Characterization of the response to zinc deficiency in the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120.

ABSTRACT: Zur regulators control zinc homeostasis by repressing target genes under zinc-sufficient conditions in a wide variety of bacteria. This paper describes how part of a survey of duplicated genes led to the identification of the open reading frame all2473 as the gene encoding the Zur regulator of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. All2473 binds to DNA in a zinc-dependent manner, and its DNA-binding sequence was characterized, which allowed us to determine the relative contribution of particular nucleotides to Zur binding. A zur mutant was found to be impaired in the regulation of zinc homeostasis, showing sensitivity to elevated concentrations of zinc but not other metals. In an effort to characterize the Zur regulon in Anabaena, 23 genes containing upstream putative Zur-binding

SUBMITTER: Napolitano M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3347182 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature