Elucidation of the role of two LysR-type transcription regulators from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, OxyR and PA4203. (FWOAL537)

LysR-type transcription regulators are present in all bacterial genomes; they constitute the largest family of bacterial transcription regulators. LTTR's are known as activators of a single gene or operon, but can also regulate genes that are far away and may play a more global regulatory role. In the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 more than 120 genes code for potential LysR-type regulators. Two of these, OxyR and PA4203 will be studied in this project. Besides a crucial role in the defence against oxidative stress OxyR also contributes to the virulence of P. aeruginosa. The PA4203 gene is located just upstream of PA4204, that codes for a periplasmic gluconolactonase. A deletion mutant of PA4203 exhibits interesting phenotypes such as an increased swarming and swimming motility, and an increased autolysis that is accompanied by the release of DNA in the growth medium. We propose to get a better insight into the extent of the OxyR and PA4203 regulons, to identify the ligand(s) of PA4203, to analyze the interactions of both regulators with their target sites and to unravel their mode of action.

Keywords:Applied Biology

Disciplines:Biological sciences