Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1987 Sep;84(18):6422–6424. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.18.6422

DNA sequence analysis suggests that expression of flagellar and chemotaxis genes in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium is controlled by an alternative sigma factor.

J D Helmann, M J Chamberlin
PMCID: PMC299088  PMID: 3306678

Abstract

Biosynthesis of bacterial flagella involves the coordinated expression of 30 or more genes in several separate operons. We have recently shown that in Bacillus subtilis, the sigma 28 factor is essential for flagellar synthesis, suggesting that transcription of these genes is directly under the control of this alternative sigma factor. In enteric bacteria structural genes for flagellar, chemotaxis, and motility operons appear to be under coordinate control, however, the nature of the regulatory factors has not been determined. Sequence analysis of many such genes has failed to reveal plausible promoter sequences for the predominant bacterial RNA polymerase, and several such genes are not transcribed effectively in vitro by the Escherichia coli sigma 70 RNA polymerase. However, all of the sequenced flagellar, chemotaxis, and motility operons from the enteric bacteria are preceded by DNA sequences highly homologous to B. subtilis sigma 28 promoters. We propose that an alternative sigma factor controls expression of the flagellar regulon in both B. subtilis and in the enteric bacteria.

Full text

PDF
6423

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bollinger J., Park C., Harayama S., Hazelbauer G. L. Structure of the Trg protein: Homologies with and differences from other sensory transducers of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Jun;81(11):3287–3291. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.11.3287. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Boyd A., Kendall K., Simon M. I. Structure of the serine chemoreceptor in Escherichia coli. Nature. 1983 Feb 17;301(5901):623–626. doi: 10.1038/301623a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chen L. S., Mullin D., Newton A. Identification, nucleotide sequence, and control of developmentally regulated promoters in the hook operon region of Caulobacter crescentus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 May;83(9):2860–2864. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.9.2860. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dean G. E., Macnab R. M., Stader J., Matsumura P., Burks C. Gene sequence and predicted amino acid sequence of the motA protein, a membrane-associated protein required for flagellar rotation in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1984 Sep;159(3):991–999. doi: 10.1128/jb.159.3.991-999.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gill P. R., Agabian N. The nucleotide sequence of the Mr = 28,500 flagellin gene of Caulobacter crescentus. J Biol Chem. 1983 Jun 25;258(12):7395–7401. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gilman M. Z., Chamberlin M. J. Developmental and genetic regulation of Bacillus subtilis genes transcribed by sigma 28-RNA polymerase. Cell. 1983 Nov;35(1):285–293. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90231-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gilman M. Z., Glenn J. S., Singer V. L., Chamberlin M. J. Isolation of sigma-28-specific promoters from Bacillus subtilis DNA. Gene. 1984 Dec;32(1-2):11–20. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(84)90027-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gilman M. Z., Wiggs J. L., Chamberlin M. J. Nucleotide sequences of two Bacillus subtilis promoters used by Bacillus subtilis sigma-28 RNA polymerase. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Nov 25;9(22):5991–6000. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.22.5991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Graves M. C., Rabinowitz J. C. In vivo and in vitro transcription of the Clostridium pasteurianum ferredoxin gene. Evidence for "extended" promoter elements in gram-positive organisms. J Biol Chem. 1986 Aug 25;261(24):11409–11415. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Grossman A. D., Erickson J. W., Gross C. A. The htpR gene product of E. coli is a sigma factor for heat-shock promoters. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):383–390. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90493-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hawley D. K., McClure W. R. Compilation and analysis of Escherichia coli promoter DNA sequences. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Apr 25;11(8):2237–2255. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.8.2237. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hirschman J., Wong P. K., Sei K., Keener J., Kustu S. Products of nitrogen regulatory genes ntrA and ntrC of enteric bacteria activate glnA transcription in vitro: evidence that the ntrA product is a sigma factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Nov;82(22):7525–7529. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.22.7525. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hunt T. P., Magasanik B. Transcription of glnA by purified Escherichia coli components: core RNA polymerase and the products of glnF, glnG, and glnL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Dec;82(24):8453–8457. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.24.8453. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Komeda Y. Fusions of flagellar operons to lactose genes on a mu lac bacteriophage. J Bacteriol. 1982 Apr;150(1):16–26. doi: 10.1128/jb.150.1.16-26.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Krikos A., Mutoh N., Boyd A., Simon M. I. Sensory transducers of E. coli are composed of discrete structural and functional domains. Cell. 1983 Jun;33(2):615–622. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90442-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kuo S. C., Koshland D. E., Jr Sequence of the flaA (cheC) locus of Escherichia coli and discovery of a new gene. J Bacteriol. 1986 Jun;166(3):1007–1012. doi: 10.1128/jb.166.3.1007-1012.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Losick R., Youngman P., Piggot P. J. Genetics of endospore formation in Bacillus subtilis. Annu Rev Genet. 1986;20:625–669. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.20.120186.003205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Russo A. F., Koshland D. E., Jr Separation of signal transduction and adaptation functions of the aspartate receptor in bacterial sensing. Science. 1983 Jun 3;220(4601):1016–1020. doi: 10.1126/science.6302843. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Silverman M., Simon M. I. Bacterial flagella. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1977;31:397–419. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.31.100177.002145. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Silverman M., Simon M. Phase variation: genetic analysis of switching mutants. Cell. 1980 Apr;19(4):845–854. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90075-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Silverman M., Zieg J., Simon M. Flagellar-phase variation: isolation of the rh1 gene. J Bacteriol. 1979 Jan;137(1):517–523. doi: 10.1128/jb.137.1.517-523.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Szekely E., Simon M. DNA sequence adjacent to flagellar genes and evolution of flagellar-phase variation. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jul;155(1):74–81. doi: 10.1128/jb.155.1.74-81.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Wiggs J. L., Bush J. W., Chamberlin M. J. Utilization of promoter and terminator sites on bacteriophage T7 DNA by RNA polymerases from a variety of bacterial orders. Cell. 1979 Jan;16(1):97–109. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90191-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wiggs J. L., Gilman M. Z., Chamberlin M. J. Heterogeneity of RNA polymerase in Bacillus subtilis: evidence for an additional sigma factor in vegetative cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 May;78(5):2762–2766. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.5.2762. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Zieg J., Simon M. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of an invertible controlling element. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jul;77(7):4196–4200. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.7.4196. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES