Identification of a Repressor for the Two iol Operons Required for Inositol Catabolism in Geobacillus Kaustophilus

Abstract

BackgroundGeobacillus kaustophilus HTA426, a thermophilic Gram-positive bacterium, grows on inositol as its sole carbon source, and an iol gene cluster required for inositol catabolism has been postulated with reference to the iol genes in Bacillus subtilis. The iol gene cluster consists of two tandem operons induced in the presence of inositol; however, the mechanism underlying the induction remains unclear. B. subtilis iolQ is known to be involved in the regulation of iolX encoding a scyllo-inositol dehydrogenase, and its homolog in HTA426 was found two genes upstream of the first gene (gk1899) of the iol gene cluster and termed as iolQ in G. kaustophilus.ResultsWhen iolQ was inactivated, not only the myo-inositol dehydrogenase activity in the cell due to the expression of gk1899 but also the transcription of the two iol operons became constitutive. IolQ was produced and purified as a C-terminal His-tag fusion in Escherichia coli and subjected to the in vitro gel mobility shift assay to examine its DNA binding property. It was observed that IolQ bound to the DNA fragments containing each of the two iol promoter regions, and its DNA binding was antagonized by myo-inositol. Moreover, DNase I footprint analyses were conducted to determine the two binding sites of IolQ within each of the iol promoter regions. By comparing the sequences of the binding sites, a consensus sequence for IolQ binding was deduced to be a palindrome of 5′-RGWAAGCGCTTSCY-3′ (where R = A or G, W = A or T, S = G or C, and Y = C or T).ConclusionIolQ functions as a transcriptional repressor regulating the induction of the two iol operons responding to myo-inositol.