• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.244-252
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• 2007

Escherichia coli has a PhoR-PhoB two-component regulatory system to detect and respond to the changes of environmental phosphate concentration. For the E. coli W3110 strain growing under phosphate-limiting condition, the changes of global gene expression levels were investigated by using DNA microarray analysis. The expression levels of some genes that are involved in phosphate metabolism were increased as phosphate became limited, whereas those of the genes involved in ribosomal protein or amino acid metabolism were decreased, owing to the stationary phase response. The upregulated genes could be divided into temporarily and permanently inducible genes by phosphate starvation. At the peak point showing the highest expression levels of the phoB and phoR genes under phosphate-limiting condition, the phoB- and/or phoR-dependent regulatory mechanisms were investigated in detail by comparing the gene expression levels among the wild-type and phoB and/or phoR mutant strains. Overall, the phoB mutation was epistatic over the phoR mutation. It was found that PhoBR and PhoB were responsible for the upregulation of the phosphonate or glycerol phosphate metabolism and high-affinity phosphate transport system, respectively. These results show the complex regulation by the PhoR-PhoB two-component regulatory system in E. coli.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2010

Bacillus subtilis PhoP-PhoR two-component system (TCS) senses phosphate deficiency conditions, and then controls expression of the Pho regulon to prolong survival. The sensor histidine kinase, PhoR, is autophosphorylated and transfers the phosphate to the response regulator, PhoP. Phosphorylated PhoP (PhoP~P) binds to repeated 6-bp consensus PhoP binding sequences of Pho regulon promoters and activates or represses gene expression. Pho signal transduction systems are part of interconnected signal transduction network involving at least three TCSs (PhoP-PhoR, ResD-ResE TCS, SpoOA phosphorelay), a global carbon metabolism regulator (CcpA), and transition state regulators (AbrB, ScoC). In addition, PhoP-PhoR TCS is cross related with YycF-YycG TCS by cross-regulation. While indescribable progress has been made in understanding phosphate deficiency stress response through refined expression of the Pho regulon in the recent past years, many important questions still remain. Solving these questions may provide important information for application study using B. subtilis.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1620-1628
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• 2016

In this study, we investigated colistin resistance mechanisms associated with the regulation of the pbgP operon in Klebsiella pneumoniae, using four isogenic pairs of colistin-susceptible strains and their colistin-resistant derivatives and two colistin-resistant clinical isolates. Amino acid sequence alterations of PhoPQ, PmrAB, and MgrB were investigated, and mRNA expression levels of phoQ, pmrB, pmrD, and pbgP were measured using quantitative real-time PCR. The phoQ and pmrB genes were deleted from two colistin-resistant derivatives, 134R and 063R. We found that phoQ, pmrD, and pbgP were significantly upregulated in all colistin-resistant derivatives. However, pmrB was significantly upregulated in only two colistin-resistant derivatives and one clinical strain. pmrB was not overexpressed in the other strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration of colistin was drastically lower in both phoQ- and pmrB-deleted mutants from a colistin-resistant derivative (134R) that was overexpressing phoQ and pmrB. However, colistin susceptibility was restored only in a phoQ-deleted mutant from a colistin-resistant derivative (063R) without overexpression of pmrB. In conclusion, two different regulations of the pbgP operon may associate with the development of colistinresisant K. pneumoniae.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2012

Phosphorous is an essential element for the synthesis of various biomolecules including phospholipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Bacterial cells can uptake it as forms of phosphate and phosphate-containing nutrients from extracellular environments, and reserve extra phosphate to polyphosphate inside the cell. Among five phosphate transport systems, Pst plays central roles in phosphate transport, and its expression is coordinated by the regulation of PhoB-PhoR two component signal transduction system in response to extracellular levels of phosphate. Genomic studies on the response regulator PhoB reveal many genes independent of phosphate metabolism. Based on recent findings on phenotypes of bacteria lacking proper function of each phosphate transport system, this review discusses roles of phosphate transporters in maintaining optimum intracellular phosphate levels, and presents diverse phenotypes of phosphate transporters related with other environmental signals as well as phosphate, then finally points out functional redundancy among phosphate transport systems or their regulators, which emphasize importance of phosphate homeostasis in governing metabolism, adaptation, and virulence of bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1130-1140
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• 2023

Among the AAA+ proteases in bacteria, FtsH is a membrane-bound ATP-dependent metalloprotease, which is known to degrade many membrane proteins as well as some cytoplasmic proteins. In the intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, FtsH is responsible for the proteolysis of several proteins including MgtC virulence factor and MgtA/MgtB Mg²⁺ transporters, the transcription of which is controlled by the PhoP/PhoQ two-component regulatory system. Given that PhoP response regulator itself is a cytoplasmic protein and also degraded by the cytoplasmic ClpAP protease, it seems unlikely that FtsH affects PhoP protein levels. Here we report an unexpected role of the FtsH protease protecting PhoP proteolysis from cytoplasmic ClpAP protease. In FtsH-depleted condition, PhoP protein levels decrease by ClpAP proteolysis, lowering protein levels of PhoP-controlled genes. This suggests that FtsH is required for normal activation of PhoP transcription factor. FtsH does not degrade PhoP protein but directly binds to PhoP, thus sequestering PhoP from ClpAP-mediated proteolysis. FtsH's protective effect on PhoP can be overcome by providing excess ClpP. Because PhoP is required for Salmonella's survival inside macrophages and mouse virulence, these data implicate that FtsH's sequestration of PhoP from ClpAP-mediated proteolysis is a mechanism ensuring the amount of PhoP protein during Salmonella infection.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.318-321
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• 2002

To induce recombinant protein under phosphate restricted conditions such as soil, we have constructed the expression vector (pEAAP) with phoA gene promoter of Enterobacter aerogenes. To construct the pEAAP, deletion of the T7 promoter and lac operator from pET-22b(+) by BglII-XhoI digestion and addition of the phoA gene promoter (containing the pho box) were performed. To test pEAAP as an expression vector controled by phosphate limitation, pEAPHY1 was constructed with the phytate gene (Bsa-phy1) of Bacillus subtillis var. amyloliquefaciens (KCTC 8913P). Under the phosphate-limitation condition, CK-PHY1 ( Escherichia coli JM109 was transformed with pEAPHY1) expressed the 41 kD Bsa-Phy1 . Also CK-PHY1 formed the clear zone in solid medium containing phytate as a sole phosphate source.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.566-572
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• 2009

A recombinant plasmid, pDH3, was obtained from the genomic library of Serattia marcescens KCTC 2172, and several recombinant subclones constructed from pDH3. The nucleotide sequence of a 5,137 bp segment, pPH4, was determined and three open reading frames were detected. The three ORFs encoded the phosphate specific transport (pst) operon, which was pstC, pstA, and pstB, with the same direction of transcription. Comparison of the pst operon of S. marcescens with that of other organisms revealed that the genes for pstS and phoU were missing. A potential CRP bonding site and pho box sequence was found in the upstream of the putative promoter at the regulatory region. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence showed that homology in amino acid sequences between the PstC protein and Yersinia sp., Vibrio sp., and Pseudomonas sp. were 49, 37 and 33%, respectively. The PstA protein and Yersinia sp., Vibrio sp., and Pseudomonas sp. showed homologies of 64, 51, and 47%, respectively. PstB protein and Methanocaldococcus sp., E. coli, and Mycoplasma sp. showed homologies of 60, 50, and 48%, respectively. The pst genes could be expressed in vivo and positively regulated by cAMP-CRP. The E. coli strain harboring plasmid pPH7, with pst genes, increased with the transport of phosphate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 1995

A 3, 346 bp of the cdd upstream region in Bacillus subtilis was sequenced from the pSO1 (Song BH and J Neuhard. 1989. Mol. Gen. Genet 216: 462-468) and sequence homology was searched to the known genes in Genbank and European Molecular Biology Laboratory databanks. Five complete and one truncated putative coding sequences deduced from the nucleotide sequence were found through the ORF searching by Genetyx and Macvector software, and one of them was identified as the dgk (diacylglycerol kinase) gene and another, a truncated one, as the phoH (phosphate starvation-inducible gene) gene. The B. subtilis dgk gene, having a role for response to several environmental stress signals, revealed an open reading frame of 134 amino acids with 43.1% of sequence identity to the Streptococcus mutans dgk gene. The carboxy terminal 59 residues of the truncated phoH gene showed 52.7% and 34.5% of sequence identity in amino acids with the corresponding genes of Mycobacterium leprae and Escherichia coli. The four remaining coding sequences consisting of 115, 421, 91, and 91 residues were thought to be unknown ORFs because they have no significant similarity to known genes.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2021

Vancomycin response regulator (VncR) is a pneumococcal response regulator of the VncRS two-component signal transduction system (TCS) of Streptococcus pneumoniae. VncRS regulates bacterial autolysis and vancomycin resistance. VncR contains two different functional domains, the N-terminal receiver domain and C-terminal effector domain. Here, we investigated VncR C-terminal DNA binding domain (VncRc) structure using a crystallization approach. Crystallization was performed using the micro-batch method. The crystals diffracted to a 1.964 Å resolution and belonged to space group P212121. The crystal unit-cell parameters were a = 25.71 Å, b = 52.97 Å, and c = 60.61 Å. The structure of VncRc had a helix-turn-helix motif highly similar to the response regulator PhoB of Escherichia coli. In isothermal titration calorimetry and size exclusion chromatography results, VncR formed a complex with VncS, a sensor histidine kinase of pneumococcal TCS. Determination of VncR structure will provide insight into the mechanism by how VncR binds to target genes.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.285-292
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• 1997

This study was conducted to obtain the transgenic Brnssica napus plants with tobacco Apase gene using the binary vector system of Agrobacteriurn fumefociens. The results obtained were summarized as follows: A repressible acid phosphatase gene of Saccharon~yces cerevisiae, pho105 was used for screening of tobacco Apase cDNA. In order to identify Apase gene in tobacco genome, Southern blot analysis was pcrformed and the Apase gcnc may be present as a single copy, or at most two or three copies, in tobacco genome. To isolate the tobacco Apase gene, tobacco cDNA library was constructed using purifed mRNA from -Pi treated tobacco root and the plaque forming unit of the library was 2.8 x $10^5$ pfu/m${\ell}$, therefore the library might cover all expressed mRNAs. Using pho5 as a probe. tobacco Apase cDNA was cloned, and restriction mapping and Southern blot analysis of cDNA insert were revealed that the 3.6 kb cDNA contained tobacco acid phosphatase cDNA. Plasmid pGA695 -tcAPl was constructed by subcloning tobacco Apase cDNA into the Hind site of pGA695 with 35s promoter which can be expressed constitutively in plants. The Brassica napus cotyledonary petioles were cocultivated with the ,4 grobacteriunz and transferred to the selection medium. The transformed and regenerated plants were transplanted to soil medium. Southern blot analysis was done on the transformed plants, and it was confirmed that a foregin gene was stably integrated into the genonies of B. nnpus plants.