Transcriptional control of the sulfur-regulated cysH operon, containing genes involved in L-cysteine biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis.

ABSTRACT: The molecular mechanisms of regulation of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of cysteine are poorly characterized in Bacillus subtilis and other gram-positive bacteria. In this study we describe the expression pattern of the B. subtilis cysH operon in response to sulfur starvation. A 6.1-kb polycistronic transcript which includes the cysH, cysP, ylnB, ylnC, ylnD, ylnE, and ylnF genes was identified. Its synthesis was induced by sulfur limitation and strongly repressed by cysteine. The cysH operon contains a 5' leader portion homologous to that of the S box family of genes involved in sulfur metabolism, which are regulated by a transcription termination control system. Here we show that induction of B. subtilis cysH operon expression is dependent on the promoter and independent of the l

SUBMITTER: Mansilla MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC94713 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature