The zinc-finger bearing xenogeneic silencer MucR in α-proteobacteria balances adaptation and regulatory integrity.

ABSTRACT: Foreign AT-rich genes drive bacterial adaptation to new niches while challenging the existing regulation network. Here we report that MucR, a conserved regulator in α-proteobacteria, balances adaptation and regulatory integrity in Sinorhizobium fredii, a facultative microsymbiont of legumes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing coupled with transcriptomic data reveal that average transcription levels of both target and non-target genes, under free-living and symbiotic conditions, increase with their conservation levels. Targets involved in environmental adaptation and symbiosis belong to genus or species core and can be repressed or activated by MucR in a condition-dependent manner, implying regulatory integrations. However, most targets are enriched in strain-specific genes of lower e

SUBMITTER: Jiao J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8857273 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature