Besides the absolute dependence of EBPs and ATP hydrolysis for th

Besides the absolute dependence of EBPs and ATP hydrolysis for the formation of the RNA polymerase open complex on the promoters, another unique feature of σ54 is the recognition of

-24/-12-type promoters with consensus sequence TGGCACG-N4-TTGC [17, 18]. The σ54 regulon was Sepantronium datasheet estimated in several organisms, such as E. coli [19], Pseudomonas putida [20] and several species of Rhizobiaceae [21] by use of powerful computational methods that took advantage of the high conservation of σ54 promoter sequences throughout diverse bacterial groups. Alternative sigma factors provide effective mechanisms check details for regulating a large numbers of genes in response to several environmental stresses. In the genome of X. fastidiosa there are genes encoding each of the sigma factors RpoD, RpoH, RpoE and RpoN [22]. Large-scale this website studies using microarrays and in silico analyses have permitted to determine the RpoH and RpoE regulons and their contribution to the heat shock response [23, 24]. Recently, we have established that RpoN controls cell-cell aggregation and biofilm formation in X. fastidiosa by means of differential regulation of genes involved in type I and type IV fimbrial biogenesis. We have also characterized the first σ54-dependent promoter in X. fastidiosa, controlling expression of the pilA1 gene [25].

Here, we analyzed the global transcriptional profile of X. fastidiosa under nitrogen starvation conditions using DNA microarrays. A more complete description of the X. fastidiosa σ54 regulon was achieved using microarray data from an rpoN mutant integrated with an in silico analysis of RpoN-binding sites. The regulatory below region of the glnA gene that encodes the enzyme glutamine synthetase was

further characterized, and confirmed to have a σ54-dependent promoter, suggesting an important role of ammonium assimilation mediated by σ54 in X. fastidiosa. Methods Bacterial strains and growth conditions The citrus strain J1a12 of Xylella fastidiosa [26] was cultivated in PW medium [27] without bovine serum albumin and phenol red and supplemented with 0.5% glucose (w/v) (PWG) at 25°C with no agitation. Cultures were also grown in defined XDM2 medium [28] or XDM2 medium lacking all nitrogen sources (XDM0) at the same conditions. For the rpoN mutant strain [25], 10 μg ampicillin ml-1 was supplemented to the PWG medium. Growth of Xylella cells in nitrogen starvation For time course studies, late-exponential phase cells in PWG medium were used to inoculate a culture in 100 ml XDM2 medium to an optical density at 600 nm (OD600 nm) of 0.1. Cells were grown during 12 days in the XDM2 medium (mid-log phase) and harvested by centrifugation.

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