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A small protein from the bop–brp intergenic region of Halobacterium salinarum contains a zinc finger motif and regulates bop and crtB1 transcription
Author(s) -
Tarasov Valery Y.,
Besir Hüseyin,
Schwaiger Rita,
Klee Kathrin,
Furtwängler Katarina,
Pfeiffer Friedhelm,
Oesterhelt Dieter
Publication year - 2008
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.1365-2958.2007.06081.x
Subject(s) - halobacterium salinarum , zinc finger , biology , gene , genetics , bacteriorhodopsin , transcription factor , archaea , membrane
Summary Bacteriorhodopsin, the photosynthetic protein of Halobacterium salinarum , is optimally expressed under anaerobic growth conditions. We identified Brz (OE3104F, b acteriorhodopsin‐ r egulating z inc finger protein), a new regulator of the bop gene. It is a small protein with a zinc finger motif, encoded directly upstream of the bop gene in the same orientation. Deletion of the brz gene caused a large decrease of bop mRNA levels as shown by Northern blot and microarray analysis. A similar effect was obtained by site‐directed mutagenesis of Cys and His residues in the zinc finger motif, indicating the importance of this motif for the function of the protein. In silico analysis of the genomes from H. salinarum and other archaea revealed a large family of similar small zinc finger motif proteins, some of which may also be involved in transcription regulation of their adjacent genes.