Transport-related genes significantly affect bacterial antibiotic resistance. However, the effects of these genes and their regulation of bacterial drug resistance in several mycobacterial species, including the fast-growing Mycobacterium smegmatis, the pathogen M.Tuberculosis and M. avium have not been clearly characterized. We identified Ms4022 (MSMEG-4022) as a novel TetR family regulator that activates the expression of seven transport-related genes and affects drug resistance in M. smegmatis. Overexpression of Ms4022 inhibited M. smegmatis growth and enhanced mycobacterial resistance to the anti-Tuberculosis drug rifampicin (RIF). By contrast, the Ms4022-deleted mycobacterial strain has shown sensitive to RIF. Ms4022 recognized three 19 bp non-palindromic motifs containing a 9 bp conserved region at their 5′ end and it directly regulated seven transport-related genes, which affects mycobacterial resistance to RIF. Overexpression of three of seven transport-related genes (Ms1448, Ms1613, and Ms5278) inhibited the growth of M. smegmatis. This study improves our understanding of the function of mycobacterial transport-related genes and their regulation of bacterial drug resistance.
CITATION STYLE
Liu, H., Yang, M., & He, Z. G. (2016). Novel TetR family transcriptional factor regulates expression of multiple transport-related genes and affects rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Scientific Reports, 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27489
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