Evidence for global regulatory control of pilus expression in Escherichia coli by Lrp and DNA methylation: model building based on analysis of pap

Pyelonephritis‐associated pilus (Pap) expression is regulated by a phase variation control mechanism involving PapB, Papl, catabolite activator protein (CAP), leucine‐responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) and deoxyadenosine methylase (Dam). Lrp and Papl bind to a specific non‐methylated pap regulatory DNA region containing the sequence ‘GATC’ and facilitate the formation of an active transcriptional complex. Evidence indicates that binding of Lrp and Papl to this region inhibits methylation of the GATC site by Dam. However, if this GATC site is first methylated by Dam, binding of Lrp and Papl is inhibited. These events lead to the formation of two different pap methylation states characteristic of active (ON) and inactive (OFF) pap transcription states. The fae (K88), daa (F1845) and sfa (S) pilus operons share conserved ‘GATC‐box’ domains with pap and may be subject to a similar regulatory control mechanism involving Lrp and DNA methylation.

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