FIGURE 5.
The Fur loss activates OxyR. (A,B) Effects of the fur mutation on sensitivity of S. oneidensis to H2O2. pBsdpaAB, B. subtilis dpaAB gene under the control of Ptac within pHGE-Ptac. Disk diffusion assay (A): paper disks of 6 mm in diameter loaded with 10 μl of 5 M H2O2 were placed on bacterial lawns (pre-grown for 6 h). Results shown were 24 h after the disks were in place. Survival assay (B): H2O2 was added to the mid-exponential phase cultures adjusted to 0.4 of OD600 to a final concentration of 5 mM and viable cells were counted by plating. (C,D) Physiological functions of OxyR and Fur appear non-overlapping as shown by the cell pellet color (C) and viability on LB plates (D). (E) Immunoblot analysis of OxyR. In the indicated strains, His6-tagged protein expression was induced with IPTG. Mid-exponential phase cells either treated with H2O2 of indicated concentrations for 30 min or not were collected, processed, and analyzed with antibodies against the hexahistidine tag. R, reduced form; O, oxidized form. Experiments were performed at least three times, and representative results are shown. *Represents OxyRC203S, a mutant that could not be activated. ΔoxyR-con, the ΔoxyR strain does not express a his6-tagged OxyR as the control.