Open AccessAnalysis, expression and prevalence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis homolog of bacterial virulence regulating proteins
Author(s) -
Gupta Seema,
Jain Shruti,
K. Tyagi Anil
Publication year - 1999
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.1574-6968.1999.tb13461.x
Subject(s) - biology , mycobacterium tuberculosis , homology (biology) , gene , escherichia coli , yersinia enterocolitica , virulence , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , nucleic acid sequence , yersinia , sequence analysis , tuberculosis , bacteria , medicine , pathology
We have previously reported the identification of a gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis , H 37 Rv, which on the basis of its nucleotide sequence encoded a protein product of 38 kDa. This 38‐Kda mycobacterial protein designated as VirS exhibits homology with the VirF protein of Shigella , the VirFy protein of Yersinia and the Cfad, Rns and FapR proteins from various enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains. In this communication, we show the close sequence and structural similarities of the VirS protein with VirF, VirFy, Cfad, Rns and FapR and describe the results of our studies on the characterization of the virS gene promoter and its expression in E. coli and mycobacteria. virS was present exclusively in the species belonging to the M. tuberculosis complex as revealed by Southern blot and PCR analysis. Our findings suggest the involvement of virS in the regulation of pathogenesis of M. tuberculosis .