Genome prediction of PhoB regulated promoters in Sinorhizobium meliloti and twelve proteobacteria

In proteobacteria, genes whose expression is modulated in response to the external concentration of inorganic phosphate are often regulated by the PhoB protein which binds to a conserved motif (Pho box) within their promoter regions. Using a position weight matrix algorithm derived from known Pho box sequences, we identified 96 putative Pho regulon members whose promoter regions contained one or more Pho boxs in the Sinorhizobium meliloti genome. Expression of these genes was examined through assays of reporter gene fusions and through comparison with published microarray data. Of 96 genes, 31 were induced and 3 were repressed by Pi starvation in a PhoB dependent manner. Novel Pho regulon members included several genes of unknown function. Comparative analysis across 12 proteobacterial genomes revealed highly conserved Pho regulon members including genes involved in Pi metabolism (pstS, phnC and ppdK). Genes with no obvious association with Pi metabolism were predicted to be Pho regulon members in S.meliloti and multiple organisms. These included smc01605 and smc04317 which are annotated as substrate binding proteins of iron transporters and katA encoding catalase. This data suggests that the Pho regulon overlaps and interacts with several other control circuits, such as the oxidative stress response and iron homeostasis

Phosphate taxis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa was shown to be attracted to phosphate. The chemotactic response was induced by phosphate starvation. The specificity of chemoreceptors for phosphate was high so that no other tested phosphorus compounds elicited a chemotactic response as strong as that elicited by phosphate. Competition experiments showed that the chemoreceptors for phosphate appeared to be different from those for the common amino acids. Mutants constitutive for alkaline phosphatase showed the chemotactic response to phosphate regardless of whether the cells were starved for phosphate