Identification and nucleotide sequence of the delta-lysin gene, hld, adjacent to the accessory gene regulator (agr) of Staphylococcus aureus (original) (raw)
Summary
A Tn_551_ insertional mutation in the accessory gene regulator (agr) locus of the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome resulted in the decreased production of at least seven extracellular toxins and enzymes and a simultaneous increase in the production of protein A and coagulase (Recsei et al. 1986). Adjacent to this locus we have now identified another gene, hld, transcribed into a 0.5 kb RNA which codes for the staphylococcal delta-lysin. The expression of hld, was totally repressed in a strain carrying the agr insertional mutation. Hybridization with strand-specific probes and primer extension analysis revealed that hld, and agr are transcribed in opposite directions, starting 188 nucleotides apart. The hld, gene is mainly expressed during the post-exponential growth phase and is totally repressed during early exponential growth. Determination of hld, mRNA half-life in different growth phases indicated that this regulation is at the level of transcription.
Access this article
Subscribe and save
- Get 10 units per month
- Download Article/Chapter or eBook
- 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
- Cancel anytime Subscribe now
Buy Now
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.
Instant access to the full article PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
- Arvidson S (1983) Extracellular enzymes from Staphylococcus aureus. In: Easmon CSF, Adlam C (eds) Staphylococci and staphylococcal infections, 2. Academic Press, London, pp 745–808
Google Scholar - Björklind A, Arvidson S (1980) Mutants of Staphylococcus aureus affected in the regulation of exoprotein synthesis. FEMS Microbiol Lett 7:203–206
Google Scholar - Coleman G, Abbas-Ali B (1977) Comparison of the patterns of increase in alpha-toxin and total extracellular protein formation by a low alpha-toxin-producing variant of Staphylococcus aureus (Wood46) grown in media supporting widely differing growth characteristics. Infect Immun 17:278–281
Google Scholar - Das HK, Biro PA, Cohen SN, Ehrlich HA, van Gabain A, Lawrence SK, Lemaux PG, McDevitt OH, Peterlin BM, Schultz M-F, Sood AK, Weissman SM (1983) Use of synthetic oligonucleotide probes complementary to genes for human HLA-DR alpha and beta as extension primers for the isolation of 5′-specific genomic clones. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80:1531–1535
Google Scholar - Fitton JE, Dell A, Shaw WV (1980) The amino acid sequence of the delta haemolysin of Staphylococcus aureus. FEBS Lett 115:209–212
Google Scholar - Graves MC, Rabinowitz JC (1986) In vivo and in vitro transcription of the Clostridium pasteurianum ferredoxin gene. Evidence for “extended” promoter elements in Gram-positive organisms. J Biol Chem 261:11409–11415
Google Scholar - Janzon L, Löfdahl S, Arvidson S (1986) Evidence for a coordinate transcriptional control of alpha-toxin and protein A in Staphylococcus aureus. FEMS Microbiol Lett 33:193–198
Google Scholar - Lee KY, Birkbeck TH (1984) In vitro synthesis of the delta-lysin of Staphylococcus aureus. Infect Immun 44:434–138
Google Scholar - Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning. A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Google Scholar - Melefors Ö, van Gabain A (1988) Site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage and the regulation of stability of _E. coli omp_A mRNA. Cell :893–901
- Messing J (1983) New M13 vectors for cloning. Methods Enzymol 101:20–78
Google Scholar - Michaelis S, Beckwith J (1982) Mechanism of incorporation of cell envelope proteins in Escherichia coli. Annu Rev Microbiol 36:435–465
Google Scholar - Morfeldt E, Janzon L, Arvidson S, Löfdahl S (1988) Cloning of a chromosomal locus (exp) which regulates the expression of several exoprotein genes in Staphylococcus aureus. Mol Gen Genet 211:435–440
Google Scholar - Novick RP (1967) Properties of a cryptic high frequency transducing phage in Staphylococcus aureus. Virology 33:155–166
Google Scholar - Peng H-L, Novick RP, Kreiswirth B, Kornblum J, Schlievert P (1988) Cloning, characterization, and sequencing of an accessory gene regulator (agr) in Staphylococcus aureus. J Bacteriol 170:4365–4372
Google Scholar - Recsei P, Kreiswirth B, O'Reilly M, Schlivert R, Gruss A, Novick RP (1986) Regulation of exoprotein gene expression in Staphylococcus aureus by agr. Mol Gen Genet 202:58–61
Google Scholar - Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:5463–5467
Google Scholar
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
- Department of Bacteriology, Karolinska Institutet, S-10401, Stockholm, Sweden
Lars Janzon & Staffan Arvidson - Department of Bacteriology, National Bacteriological Laboratories, S-10521, Stockholm, Sweden
Sven Löfdahl
Authors
- Lars Janzon
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Sven Löfdahl
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar - Staffan Arvidson
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar
Additional information
Communicated by J. Lengeler
In the paper cloning of a chromosomal locus (exp) which regulates the expression of several exoprotein genes in Staphylococcus aureus (Morfeldt et al. 1988) which appeared in Mol Gen Genet volume 211, we described the cloning of the chromosomal DNA sequences surrounding a Tn_551_ insertion from a strain WA250. This strain was claimed to be obtained by transduction of the insertion from strain WA205 (derivative of strain V8) to strain 8325-4. Unfortunately, due to misnaming of strains, WA250 has later turned out to be a derivative of 8325-4 obtained by transduction of the insertional agr mutation of strain RN4256 (Recsei et al. 1986) which has a pleiotropic exoprotein deficiency indistinguishable from that of WA205. Consequently the cloned regulatory locus should be referred to as agr
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Janzon, L., Löfdahl, S. & Arvidson, S. Identification and nucleotide sequence of the delta-lysin gene, hld, adjacent to the accessory gene regulator (agr) of Staphylococcus aureus.Mol Gen Genet 219, 480–485 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259623
- Received: 21 March 1989
- Issue Date: November 1989
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259623