AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Qi, F.
Right arrow Articles by Caufield, P. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Qi, F.
Right arrow Articles by Caufield, P. W.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Qi, F.
Right arrow Articles by Caufield, P. W.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 1999, p. 652-658, Vol. 65, No. 2
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Functional Analyses of the Promoters in the Lantibiotic Mutacin II Biosynthetic Locus in Streptococcus mutans

Fengxia Qi,* Ping Chen, and Page W. Caufield

Department of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294

Received 23 September 1998/Accepted 17 November 1998

The lantibiotic bacteriocin mutacin II is produced by the group II Streptococcus mutans. The mutacin II biosynthetic locus consists of seven genes, mutR, -A, -M, -T, -F, -E, and -G, organized as two operons. The mutAMTFEG operon is transcribed from the mutA promoter 55 bp upstream of the translation start codon for MutA, while the mutR promoter is 76 bp upstream of the mutR structural gene. Expression of the mutA promoter is regulated by the components of the growth medium, while the mutR promoter activity does not seem to be affected by these conditions. Inactivation of mutR abolishes transcription of the mutA operon but does not affect its own promoter activity. The expressions of both mutA and mutR promoters are independent of the growth stage, while the production of mutacin II is only elevated at the early stationary phase. Taken together, these results suggest that expression of the mutacin operon is regulated by a complex system involving transcriptional and posttranscriptional or posttranslational controls.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294. Phone: (205) 934-2328. Fax: (205) 975-6773. E-mail: fqi{at}mail.dental.uab.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 1999, p. 652-658, Vol. 65, No. 2
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.