• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제18권6호
• /
• pp.1024-1032
• /
• 2008

Efficient expression of the Salmonella Typhimurium tdc ABCDEG operon involved in the degradation of L-serine and L-threonine requires TdcA, the transcriptional activator of the tdc operon. We found that the tdcA gene was transiently activated when the bacterial growth condition was changed from aerobic to anaerobic, but this was not observed if Salmonella was grown anaerobically from the beginning of the culture. Expression kinetics of six tdc genes after anaerobic shock demonstrated by a real-time PCR assay showed that the tdc CDEG genes were not induced in the tdcA mutant but tdcB maintained its inducibility by anaerobic shock even in the absence of tdcA, suggesting that an additional unknown transcriptional regulation may be working for the tdcB expression. We also investigated the effects of nucleoid-associated proteins by primer extension analysis and found that H-NS repressed tdcA under anaerobic shock conditions, and fis mutation delayed the peak expression time of the tdc operon. DNA microarray analysis of genes regulated by TdcA revealed that the genes involved in N-acetylmannosamine, maltose, and propanediol utilization were significantly induced in a tdcA mutant. These findings suggest that Tdc enzymes may playa pivotal role in energy metabolism under a sudden change of oxygen tension.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제21권3호
• /
• pp.252-255
• /
• 2011

Both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) have a tdc operon that encodes enzymes involved in a metabolic pathway for the degradation of L-serine and L-threonine. However, S. Typhimurium does not have the tdcR gene, which is a positive regulator in E. coli. In the present study, transcriptional analysis revealed that tdcA expression in E. coli is higher under anaerobic than aerobic growth conditions, but the opposite is true in S. Typhimurium. Interestingly, a tdcR mutant strain of E. coli showed a similar expression pattern to that observed in S. Typhimurium and was also induced by anaerobic shock. These results suggest that the induction of tdcA expression by anaerobic conditions is observable when tdcA expression is low owing to the absence of TdcR.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• 제28권4호
• /
• pp.389-395
• /
• 2009

We previously observed that the transcription of some flagellar genes decreased in Salmonella Typhimurium tdcA mutant, which is a gene encoding the transcriptional activator of the tdc operon. Since flagella-mediated bacterial motility accelerates the invasion of Salmonella, we have examined the effect of tdcA mutation on the invasive ability as well as the flagellar biosynthesis in S. Typhimurium. A tdcA mutation caused defects in motility and formation of flagellin protein, FliC in S. Typhimurium. Invasion assays in the presence of a centrifugal force confirmed that the defect of flagellum synthesis decreases the ability of Salmonella to invade into cultured epithelial cells. In addition, we also found that the expression of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) genes required for Salmonella invasion was down-regulated in the tdcA mutant because of the decreased expression of fliZ, a positive regulator of SPI1 transcriptional activator, hilA. Finally, the virulence of a S. Typhimurium tdcA mutant was attenuated compared to a wild type when administered orally. This study implies the role of tdcA in the invasion process of S. Typhimurium.