Open AccessCharacterization of a large motility gene cluster containing the cheR, motAB genes of Listeria monocytogenes and evidence that PrfA downregulates motility genes
Author(s) -
Michel E,
Mengaud J,
Galsworthy S,
Cossart P
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb13338.x
Subject(s) - motility , gene , gene cluster , cluster (spacecraft) , biology , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , computer science , programming language
Through the analysis of a non‐motile mutant of Listeria monocytogenes , we identified and characterized a locus containing the cheR, motA and motB genes. These three genes are homologous to the cheR , and motA/B genes of Bacillus subtilis which in this organism are 954 kb apart. The gene organization in Listeria is also not similar either to that of Escherichia coli in which cheR and motAB are 5.9 kb apart. CheR and motA/B , as previously reported for flaA , the flagellin gene, are thermoregulated with a higher expression at 25°C and low expression at 37°C. In a Δ prfA strain, motA expression was derepressed at 37°C, suggesting that PrfA, the transcriptional activator of virulence genes, downregulates motility genes in Listeria at 37°C.