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Escherichia coli aconitases and oxidative stress: post-transcriptional regulation of sodA expression

The Krebs Institute for Biomolecular Research, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK¹

Author for correspondence: Jeffrey Green. Tel: +44 114 2224403. Fax: +44 114 2728697. e-mail: jeff.green{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Escherichia coli possesses two aconitases, a stationary-phase enzyme (AcnA), which is induced by iron and oxidative stress, and a major but less stable enzyme (AcnB), synthesized during exponential growth. In addition to the catalytic activities of the holo-proteins, the apo-proteins function as post-transcriptional regulators by site-specific binding to acn mRNAs. Thus, it has been suggested that inactivation of the enzymes could mediate a rapidly reacting post-transcriptional component of the bacterial oxidative stress response. Here it is shown that E. coli acn mutants are hypersensitive to the redox-stress reagents H₂O₂ and methyl viologen. Proteomic analyses further revealed that the level of superoxide dismutase (SodA) is enhanced in acnB and acnAB mutants, and by exposure to methyl viologen. The amounts of other proteins, including thioredoxin reductase, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, succinyl-CoA synthetase and chaperone proteins, were also affected in the acn mutants. The altered patterns of sodA expression were confirmed in studies with sodA–lacZ reporter strains. Quantitative Northern blotting indicated that AcnA enhances the stability of the sodA transcript, whereas AcnB lowers its stability. Direct evidence that the apo-proteins have positive (AcnA) and negative (AcnB) effects on SodA synthesis was obtained from in vitro transcription–translation experiments. It is suggested that the aconitase proteins of E. coli serve as a protective buffer against the basal level of oxidative stress that accompanies aerobic growth by acting as a sink for reactive oxygen species and by modulating translation of the sodA transcript.

Keywords: protein–mRNA interactions, proteomics, iron–sulphur protein

Abbreviations: Acn, aconitase; IRP, iron regulatory protein; MV, methyl viologen; ODH, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase; SCS, succinyl-CoA synthetase; SodA, superoxide dismutase; UTR, untranslated region

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