Project description:The zinc uptake regulator Zur is a Zn2+-sensing metalloregulatory protein involved in the maintenance of bacterial zinc homeostasis. Up to now, regulation of zinc homeostasis by Zur is poorly understood in Y. pestis. We constructed a zur null mutant of Y. pestis biovar microtus strain 201. Microarray expression analysis disclosed a set of 154 Zur-dependent genes of Y. pestis under zinc rich condition. Real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR was subsequently used to validate the microarray data. Based on the 154 Zur-dependent genes, predicted regulatory Zur motifs were used to screen for potential direct Zur targets including three putative operons znuA, znuCB and ykgM-RpmJ2. The LacZ reporter fusion analysis verified that Zur greatly repressed the promoter activity of the above three operons. The subsequent electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) demonstrated that a purified Zur protein was able to bind to the promoter regions of the above three operons. The DNase I footprinting was used to identify the Zur binding sites for the above three operons, verifying the Zur box sequence as predicted previously in Î³-Proteobacteria. The primer extension assay was further used to determine the transcription start sites for the above three operons and to localize the -10 and -35 elements. Zur binding sites overlapped the -10 sequence of its target promoters, which was consistent with the previous observation that Zur binding would block the entry of the RNA polymerase to repress the transcription of its target genes. Zur as a repressor directly controls the transcription of znuA, znuCB and ykgM-RpmJ2 in Y. pestis by employing a conserved mechanism of Zur-promoter DNA association as observed in Î³-Proteobacteria. Zur contributes to zinc homeostasis in Y. pestis likely through transcriptional repression of the high-affinity zinc uptake system ZnuACB and two alternative ribosomal proteins YkgM and RpmJ2. The wild-type (WT) Y. pestis strain 201 belongs to a newly established Y. pestis biovar, Microtus, which was thought to be avirulent to humans, but highly virulent to mice. An in-frame deletion of the zur gene was constructed by using one step inactivation method based on the lambda phage recombination in which PCR primers provide the homology to the target gene, as described previously by Datsenko and Wanner. The entire coding region of zur was replaced by a kanamycin resistance (KnR) cassette, which was verified by PCR and DNA sequencing. The resulting mutant strain was referred to as Îzur. Both the WT strain and the Zur mutant were pre-cultivated at 26 ÂºC to the middle exponential growth phase (OD620 about 1.0) in TMH medium. The cell cultures were then diluted 1:20 in fresh TMH medium and grown at 26Â°C until an OD620 of about 1.0. Finally, 5mM ZnCl2 was added into each cell culture to ensure zinc rich conditions. Growth was continued for 30 min at 26Â°C before harvested for total RNA isolation. Gene expression profiles were compared between WT and Îzur. RNA samples were isolated from four individual bacterial cultures, as biological replicates, for each strain. The dual-fluorescently (Cy3 or Cy5 dye) labeled cDNA probes, for which the incorporated dye was reversed, were synthesized from the RNA samples, and then hybridized to four separated microarray slides, respectively.

Project description:Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) is the etiologic agent of the plague, an endemic zoonotic disease of critical clinical and historic importance. The species belongs to a genus comprising eleven members, three of which are human pathogens. Y. pestis and its closest extant relative, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, are very similar in many respects, yet there is a distinct dichotomy between these species in terms of pathogenicity. Y. pseudotuberculosis produces a relatively benign food- or water-borne gastroenteritis with rare cases of potentially fatal bacteremia. In contrast, the characteristics of high infectivity and high mortality have made Y. pestis a pathogen of historic importance with devastating effects on the human populace over the course of three major pandemics. These qualities coupled with the emergence of multi-drug resistant variants make Y. pestis an ideal candidate for use as a bioterrorism agent. Consequentially, evolutionary biology of this organism has become a priority in the counter-terrorism research effort. The flow of genetic information within the Y. pseudotuberculosis/Y. pestis group motivated us to identify novel genes for the purpose of creating a pan-genome species DNA microarray to better understand the phylogenomic relationships among its members. Based on the sequence information be generated from the novel gene discovery project conducted at the PFGRC as well as other publicly available sources regarding Yersinia spp. genome sequences, we designed a species microarray which represents the hitherto known genetic repertoire of this taxonomic group. In order to create a species microarray that represents novel genes or genes with significant sequence variation, the ArrayOligoSelector software (http://arrayoligosel.sourceforge.net/) was used to design a 70-mer oligonucleotide for each of the annotated ORFs or partial ORFs. A detailed description of the 70-mer oligo design process and filters developed by the PFGRC can be found on the PFGRC web site at (http://pfgrc.tigr.org/presentations/seminars/oligo_design_final.pdf).

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Yersinia pestis

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