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. 1997 May;179(9):3047–3052. doi: 10.1128/jb.179.9.3047-3052.1997

Promoter mapping and transcriptional regulation of the iron-regulated Neisseria gonorrhoeae fbpA gene.

R Y Forng 1, C R Ekechukwu 1, S Subbarao 1, S A Morse 1, C A Genco 1
PMCID: PMC179073  PMID: 9139927

Abstract

In this study, we have mapped the promoter region of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae ferric iron binding protein-encoding gene fbpA, determined the start point of transcription, and examined the accumulation of fbpA mRNA Primer extension analysis of the fbpA promoter region indicated a single transcriptional start site located 51 bp upstream of the ATG translational start site. Northern blot analysis with a 200-bp fbpA structural gene probe detected one transcript of 1.0 kb in RNAs extracted from gonococcal cultures grown under iron-restricted conditions; the 1.0-kb transcript was observed to accumulate at a steady rate throughout the growth cycle. In comparison, in cultures grown under iron-sufficient conditions, the intensity of the 1.0-kb transcript was reduced considerably. Isolation of total RNA from rifampin-treated cells indicated that the half-life of the 1.0-kb fbpA transcript in cells grown under iron-restricted conditions was 1.2 +/- 0.2 min, while that of the 1.0-kb fbpA transcript obtained from cultures grown under iron-sufficient conditions was 0.5 +/- 0.1 min. Taken together, our results indicate that the fbpA promoter is regulated by iron and that transcription and translation of FbpA are closely linked.

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Selected References

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