CerR, a Single-domain Regulatory Protein of the LuxR Family, Promotes the Cerecidin Production and Immunity in Bacillus cereus.

CerR, a Single-domain Regulatory Protein of the LuxR Family, Promotes the Cerecidin Production and Immunity in Bacillus cereus. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2017 Dec 15;: Authors: Zhang L, Teng K, Wang J, Zhang Z, Zhang J, Sun S, Li L, Yang X, Zhong J Abstract Cerecidins are small lantibiotics from Bacillus cereus that were obtained using a semi-in vitro biosynthesis strategy and showed prominent antimicrobial activities against certain Gram-positive bacteria. However, the parental strain B. cereus As 1.1846 is incapable of producing cerecidins, most probably due to the transcriptional repression of the cerecidin gene cluster. Located in the cerecidin gene cluster, cerR encodes a putative response regulator protein that belongs to LuxR-family transcriptional regulators. CerR (84 amino acids) only contains a conserved DNA binding domain but it lacks a conventional phosphorylation domain, which is rarely found in lantibiotic gene clusters. To investigate its function in cerecidin biosynthesis, cerR was constitutively expressed in B. cereus As 1.1846. Constitutive expression of cerR surprisingly enabled the production of cerecidins and enhanced self-immunity of B. cereus towards cerecidins. Reverse transcription-PCR analysis and electrophoresis mobility shift assays respectively indicated that the cer cluster was transcribed in two transcripts (cerAM and cerRTPFE) and CerR regulated the cerecidin gene cluster directly by binding to the two p...
Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Appl Environ Microbiol Source Type: research