Open AccessRegulation of an Auxiliary, Antibiotic-Resistant Tryptophanyl-tRNA Synthetase Gene via Ribosome-Mediated Transcriptional Attenuation
Author(s) -
James J. Vecchione,
Jason K. Sello
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.652
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1067-8832
pISSN - 0021-9193
DOI - 10.1128/jb.00290-10
Subject(s) - biology , transfer rna , gene , ribosome , genetics , antibiotics , rna
cis -Acting RNA elements in the leaders of bacterial mRNA often regulate gene transcription, especially in the context of amino acid metabolism. We determined that the transcription of the auxiliary, antibiotic-resistant tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase gene (trpRS1 ) inStreptomyces coelicolor is regulated by a ribosome-mediated attenuator in the 5′ leader of its mRNA region. This regulatory element controls gene transcription in response to the physiological effects of indolmycin and chuangxinmycin, two antibiotics that inhibit bacterial tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetases. By mining streptomycete genome sequences, we found several orthologs oftrpRS1 that share this regulatory element; we predict that they are regulated in a similar fashion. The validity of this prediction was established through the analysis of atrpRS1 ortholog (SAV4725) inStreptomyces avermitilis . We conclude that thetrpRS1 locus is a widely distributed and self-regulating antibiotic resistance cassette. This study provides insights into how auxiliary aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes are regulated in bacteria.