Work

Characterization of the tet(M) determinant of Tn916: evidence for regulation by transcription attenuation

Year: 1992

Type: article

Abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the tetracycline resistance determinant tet(M), located on conjugative transposon Tn916 of Enterococcus faecalis, was determined and found to encode a 72,486-dalton protein exhibiting a high degree of homology with other tet(M) determinants. A short open reading frame corresponding to a 28-amino-acid peptide and containing a number of inverted repeat sequences was noted immediately upstream of tet(M), suggesting that regulation might occur by a mechanism involving transcriptional attenuation. Transcription analyses found this to indeed be the case, showing that the expression of tet(M) resulted from an extension of a small transcript representing the upstream leader region into the resistance determinant. Exposure of cells to tetracycline resulted in a significant increase in the amount of tet(M) transcription; this increase could be explained on the basis of increased transcriptional read-through from the upstream transcript. A model suggesting how transcriptional attenuation might operate in this system is presented.

Source: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

DOI: 10.1128/aac.36.4.769

Authors: Y A Su, P He, D B Clewell

Institution: University of Michigan

Language: English

Topic: Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Awards: G3079321552, CONJUGATIVE TRANSPOSON TN 916