TY - JOUR
T1 - Simultaneous coexpression of Borrelia burgdorferi Erp proteins occurs through a specific, Erp locus-directed regulatory mechanism
AU - El-Hage, Nazira
AU - Stevenson, Brian
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - An individual Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium can encode as many as 13 different Erp (OspE/F-related) proteins from mono-and bicistronic loci that are carried on up to 10 separate plasmids. We demonstrate through multilabel immunofluorescence analyses that individual bacteria simultaneously coexpress their entire Erp protein repertoire. While it has been proposed that B. burgdorferi controls expression of Erp and other plasmid-encoded proteins through changes in DNA topology, we observed regulated Erp expression in the absence of detectable differences in DNA supercoiling. Likewise, inhibition of DNA gyrase had no detectable effect on Erp expression. Furthermore, expression of loci physically adjacent to erp loci was observed to be independently regulated. It is concluded that Erp expression is regulated by a mechanism(s) directed at erp loci and not by a global, plasmid-wide mechanism.
AB - An individual Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium can encode as many as 13 different Erp (OspE/F-related) proteins from mono-and bicistronic loci that are carried on up to 10 separate plasmids. We demonstrate through multilabel immunofluorescence analyses that individual bacteria simultaneously coexpress their entire Erp protein repertoire. While it has been proposed that B. burgdorferi controls expression of Erp and other plasmid-encoded proteins through changes in DNA topology, we observed regulated Erp expression in the absence of detectable differences in DNA supercoiling. Likewise, inhibition of DNA gyrase had no detectable effect on Erp expression. Furthermore, expression of loci physically adjacent to erp loci was observed to be independently regulated. It is concluded that Erp expression is regulated by a mechanism(s) directed at erp loci and not by a global, plasmid-wide mechanism.
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U2 - 10.1128/JB.184.16.4536-4543.2002
DO - 10.1128/JB.184.16.4536-4543.2002
M3 - Article
C2 - 12142424
AN - SCOPUS:0036334569
SN - 0021-9193
VL - 184
SP - 4536
EP - 4543
JO - Journal of Bacteriology
JF - Journal of Bacteriology
IS - 16
ER -