Control of the respiratory metabolism of Thermus thermophilus by the nitrate respiration conjugative element NCE

• Published in: Molecular microbiology 2007-05, Vol.64 (3), p.630-646
• Main Authors: Cava, Felipe, Laptenko, Oleg, Borukhov, Sergei, Chahlafi, Zahra, Blas-Galindo, Emilio, Gómez-Puertas, Paulino, Berenguer, José
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Motifs; Anaerobiosis; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Bacterial Proteins - physiology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Genes; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; NADH Dehydrogenase - metabolism; Nitrate Reductase - metabolism; Nitrates; Nitrates - metabolism; Operon - genetics; Oxygen; Oxygen - pharmacology; Oxygen Consumption - genetics; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; RNA polymerase; Thermus thermophilus - genetics; Thermus thermophilus - metabolism; Thermus thermophilus - physiology; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcription, Genetic
• ISSN: 0950-382X; 1365-2958; 1365-2958
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2007.05687.x

The strains of Thermus thermophilus that contain the nitrate respiration conjugative element (NCE) replace their aerobic respiratory chain by an anaerobic counterpart made of the Nrc-NADH dehydrogenase and the Nar-nitrate reductase in response to nitrate and oxygen depletion. This replacement depends on DnrS and DnrT, two homologues to sensory transcription factors encoded in a bicistronic operon by the NCE. DnrS is an oxygen-sensitive protein required in vivo to activate transcription on its own dnr promoter and on that of the nar operon, but not required for the expression of the nrc operon. In contrast, DnrT is required for the transcription of these three operons and also for the repression of nqo, the operon that encodes the major respiratory NADH dehydrogenase expressed during aerobic growth. Thermophilic in vitro assays revealed that low DnrT concentrations allows the recruitment of the T. thermophilus RNA polymerase σA holoenzyme to the nrc promoter and its transcription, whereas higher DnrT concentrations are required to repress transcription on the nqo promoter. In conclusion, our data show a complex autoinducible mechanism by which DnrT functions as the transcriptional switch that allows the NCE to take the control of the respiratory metabolism of its host during adaptation to anaerobic growth.