Journal article

Publication year: 2008

Journal: BMC Microbiology

Volume number: 8

ISSN: 1471-2180

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-8-20

Publisher: BioMed Central

Abstract: 

Background: The opportunistic food-borne gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes can exist as a free-living microorganism in the environment and grow in the cytoplasm of vertebrate and invertebrate cells following infection. The general stress response, controlled by the alternative sigma factor, sigma(B), has an important role for bacterial survival both in the environment and during infection. We used quantitative real-time PCR analysis and immuno-blot analysis to examine sB expression during growth of L. monocytogenes EGD-e. Whole genome-based transcriptional profiling was used to identify sigma(B)-dependent genes at different growth phases.

Results: We detected 105 sigma(B)-positively regulated genes and 111 genes which appeared to be under negative control of sB and validated 36 sigma(B)-positively regulated genes in vivo using a reporter gene fusion system.

Conclusion: Genes comprising the sigma(B) regulon encode solute transporters, novel cell-wall proteins, universal stress proteins, transcriptional regulators and include those involved in osmoregulation, carbon metabolism, ribosome-and envelope-function, as well as virulence and niche-specific survival genes such as those involved in bile resistance and exclusion. Ten of the sigma(B)-positively regulated genes of L. monocytogenes are absent in L. innocua. A total of 75 sigma(B)-positively regulated listerial genes had homologs in B. subtilis, but only 33 have been previously described as being sigma(B)-regulated in B. subtilis even though both species share a highly conserved sigma(B)-dependent consensus sequence. A low overlap of genes may reflects adaptation of these bacteria to their respective environmental conditions.

Harvard Citation style: Hain, T., Hossain, H., Chatterjee, S., Machata, S., Volk, U., Wagner, S., et al. (2008) Temporal transcriptomic analysis of the Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e σ^B regulon, BMC Microbiology, 8, Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-8-20

APA Citation style: Hain, T., Hossain, H., Chatterjee, S., Machata, S., Volk, U., Wagner, S., Brors, B., Haas, S., Kuenne, C., Billion, A., Otten, S., Pane-Farre, J., Engelmann, S., & Chakraborty, T. (2008). Temporal transcriptomic analysis of the Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e σ^B regulon. BMC Microbiology. 8, Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-8-20