The two-component system BfrAB regulates expression of ABC transporters in Streptococcus gordonii and Streptococcus sanguinis

Yongshu Zhang, Marvin Whiteley, Jens Kreth, Yu Lei, Ali Khammanivong, Jamie N. Evavold, Jingyuan Fan, Mark C. Herzberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

The putative two-component system BfrAB is involved in Streptococcus gordonii biofilm development. Here, we provide evidence that BfrAB regulates the expression of bfrCD and bfrEFG, which encode two ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and bfrH, which encodes a CAAX amino-terminal protease family protein. BfrC and BfrE are ATP-binding proteins, and BfrD, BfrF and BfrG are homologous membrane-spanning polypeptides. Similarly, BfrABss, the BfrAB homologous system in Streptococcus sanguinis, controls the expression of two bfrCD-homologous operons (bfrCDss and bfrXYss), a bfrH-homologous gene (bfrH1ss) and another CAAX amino-terminal protease family protein gene (bfrH2ss). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the purified BfrA DNA-binding domain from S. gordonii binds to the promoter regions of bfrCD, bfrEFG, bfrH, bfrCDss, bfrXYss and bfrH1ss in vitro. Finally, we show that the BfrA DNA-binding domain recognizes a conserved DNA motif with a consensus sequence of TTTCTTTAGAAATATTTTAGAATT. These data suggest, therefore, that S. gordonii BfrAB controls biofilm formation by regulating multiple ABC-transporter systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)165-173
Number of pages9
JournalMicrobiology
Volume155
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology

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