Maltose-Dependent Transcriptional Regulation of the mal Regulon by MalR in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Muhammad Afzal; Sulman Shafeeq; Irfan Manzoor; Oscar P Kuipers

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0127579

Maltose-Dependent Transcriptional Regulation of the mal Regulon by MalR in Streptococcus pneumoniae

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 1;10(6):e0127579. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127579. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Muhammad Afzal¹, Sulman Shafeeq², Irfan Manzoor¹, Oscar P Kuipers³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
² Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 16, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Molecular Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Abstract

The maltose regulon (mal regulon) has previously been shown to consist of the mal gene cluster (malMP, malXCD and malAR operons) in Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this study, we have further elucidated the complete mal regulon in S. pneumoniae D39 using microarray analyses and β-galactosidase assays. In addition to the mal gene cluster, the complete mal regulon of S. pneumoniae D39 consists of a pullulanase (PulA), a glucosidase (DexB), a glucokinase (RokB), a PTS component (PtsG) and an amylase (AmyA2). Our microarray studies and β-galactosidase assays further showed that the LacI-family transcriptional regulator MalR represses the expression of the mal regulon in the absence of maltose. Furthermore, the role of the pleiotropic transcriptional regulator CcpA in the regulation of the mal regulon in the presence of maltose was explored. Our microarray analysis with a ΔccpA strain showed that CcpA only represses the expression of the malXCD operon and the pulA gene in the presence of maltose. Hence, we extend the mal regulon now consisting of pulA, dexB, rokB, ptsG and amyA2 in addition to malMP, malXCD and malAR operons.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
Base Sequence
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / drug effects*
Genes, Bacterial
Glucose / pharmacology
Maltose / pharmacology*
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutation / genetics
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Operator Regions, Genetic
Operon / genetics
Regulon / genetics*
Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
Streptococcus pneumoniae / drug effects
Streptococcus pneumoniae / genetics*
Transcription, Genetic / drug effects*
Transcriptome / genetics

Substances

Bacterial Proteins
Repressor Proteins
malR protein, bacteria
Maltose
Glucose

Grants and funding

This work was supported by University of Groningen.