FimZ binds the Salmonella typhimurium fimA promoter region and may regulate its own expression with FimY

Kuang Sheng Yeh, Juliette K. Tinker, Steven Clegg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

The FimZ protein, an activator of FimA production in Salmonella typhimurium, acts in conjunction with FimY to facilitate the expression of type 1 fimbriae. The predicted amino acid sequence of FimZ suggests that this protein may be a DNA-binding protein related to BvgA, a sensory regulator of virulence gene expression in Bordetella pertussis. Purification of FimZ following overexpression of the protein by a strong inducible promoter and gel mobility shift assays confirm that FimZ is a 25-kDa polypeptide that binds to the promoter region of fimA. The region of DNA protected from DNase I digestion by FimZ binding is located between 47 and 98 nucleotides upstream from the fimA transcription initiation site. This region possesses a pair of 7-base pair tandem repeats, of which at least one is necessary for FimZ binding. One copy of the 7-base pair sequence is also located in the fimZ promoter region. In addition, expression from a fimZ-lacZ reporter construct confirms that FimZ plays a role in its own expression. Both FimZ and FimY are required for high-level expression of FimZ, which suggests that these two fimbrial proteins are involved in regulating both FimA and FimZ.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalMicrobiology and Immunology
Volume46
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

Keywords

  • Activator
  • Salmonella typhimurium
  • Type 1 fimbriae

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