Volume 270,
Number 35,
Issue of September 01, pp. 20453-20458, 1995
©1995 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Transcriptional
Regulation of puc Operon Expression in Rhodobacter
sphaeroides
ANALYSIS OF THE CIS-ACTING DOWNSTREAM REGULATORY
SEQUENCE
(Received for publication, February 24, 1995; and in revised form, July 5, 1995)
Jeong K.
Lee ,
Samuel
Kaplan
Both site-directed and spontaneous mutagenesis have been used to
investigate the role of the cis-acting regulatory region
between -92 and -1 base pair (bp) of the puc operon of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The DNA sequence from
-84 to -66 bp upstream of the 5` end of the start site of puc operon transcription is essential for normal puc operon expression. This regulatory effect was exerted irrespective
of the presence or absence of additional upstream regulatory sequences
extending from -629 to -93 bp. It is likely that this
region is involved in activator binding. Additionally, two regions of
dyad symmetry centered at -42 and -17 bp are shown to be
involved in oxygen repression of puc operon expression.
Mutations within these regions of dyad symmetry were further subdivided
on the basis of whether or not the upstream regulatory region was
required to observe the mutant phenotype. Based upon these observations
we conclude that these regions of dyad symmetry possessing the motif
TGT-N
-ACA (where N represents any nucleotide) are involved
in repressor binding with the puc operon promoter overlapping
each of these dyad symmetries.