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The ompS gene of Vibrio cholerae encodes a growth‐phase‐dependent maltoporin
Author(s) -
Lå Hannu,
Palva E. Tapio
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1993.tb00960.x
Subject(s) - biology , vibrio cholerae , gene , escherichia coli , bacterial outer membrane , microbiology and biotechnology , peptide sequence , nucleic acid sequence , mutant , biochemistry , genetics , bacteria
Summary The outer membrane of Vibrio cholerae contains a maltose‐inducible major protein, OmpS (43 kDa), that is common to different isolates. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the corresponding structural gene, ompS, revealed an open reading frame encoding a 412‐amino‐acid polypeptide. The amino acid sequence of OmpS is similar to that of LamB, the Escherichia coli maltoporin, and to ScrY of Klebsilla pneumoniae, although the antigenic determinants of these proteins are different. The cloned ompS gene complemented an ompS mutation of V. cholerae and the corresponding polypeptide could function as a maltoporin in a LamB ‐ mutant of E. coli. The promoter region of ompS is highly homologous to the malK‐lamB promoter of E. coli and the ompS gene is controlled by MalT in E. coli. This indicates that the same kind of regulatory mechanism is used to activate the ompS expression in V. cholerae and malK‐lamB expression in E. coli. An ompS‐lacZ transcriptional fusion was used to demonstrate a dual control in ompS expression; the ompS gene is responsive to the inducers maltose and trehalose but in their absence it is also expressed in response to growth‐phase. These different modes of induction might be of importance during different stages of V. cholerae infection.