Analysis of physiological significance of the diversity and the phase-variable regulation of the capsular polysaccharides in Bacteroides
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Date (from‐to) : 2012/04 -2015/03
Author : NAKAYAMA HARUYUKI; KUWAHARA Tomomi
The human gut microbe Bacteroides fragilis can alter the expression of its surface molecules such as capsular polysaccharides (PS) through the reversible DNA inversions. B. fragilis strain YCH46 possesses master DNA invertases, Mpi that mediates the on-off switching of seven promoter regions for PS biosynthesis. However the underlying molecular mechanisms to regulate the DNA inversions by Mpi are still unclear. In this study, we identified the thirteen Mpi-binding proteins by in vitro pull-down assay. The mpi gene colocalizes with a tyrosine-type site-specific recombinase gene (BF2766) in a head-to-head manner. By comparing the transcriptomes of BF2766 deletion mutants, we found that BF2766-mediated inversion controlled the expression of Mpi as well, which in turn regulated the expression of PS loci in a hierarchical manner, allowing a coordinate alteration of surface structures.