Expression of OmpATb is dependent on small membrane proteins in Mycobacterium bovis BCG

Veyron-Churlet, Romain; Brust, Belinda; Kremer, Laurent; Blanc-Potard, Anne-Béatrice

doi:10.1016/j.tube.2011.06.008

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Volume 91, Issue 6 , Pages 544-548, November 2011

Expression of OmpATb is dependent on small membrane proteins in Mycobacterium bovis BCG

Romain Veyron-Churlet
- Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Universités de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
- Present address: Institut Pasteur, Pathogénomique Mycobactérienne Intégrée, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
Belinda Brust
- Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Universités de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
Laurent Kremer
- Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Universités de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
- INSERM, DIMNP, CNRS, UMR 5235, Montpellier, France
- Corresponding author. Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Universités de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France. Tel.: +33 4 67 14 33 81; fax: +33 4 67 14 42 86.
Anne-Béatrice Blanc-Potard
- Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Universités de Montpellier II et I, CNRS, UMR 5235, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 4 67 14 47 26; fax: +33 4 67 14 42 86.

Received 23 March 2011; received in revised form 26 May 2011; accepted 22 June 2011. published online 29 July 2011.

Summary

Small membrane proteins emerge as a novel class of regulatory molecules in bacteria. Experiments carried out in Mycobacterium bovis BCG indicate that the ompATb gene (Rv0899), encoding a major outer membrane protein, is organized in operon with Rv0900 and Rv0901, encoding two small proteins with a predicted transmembrane domain. Fractioning experiment confirmed the association of Rv0901 with the membrane fraction. To investigate the role of Rv0900 and Rv0901 in M. bovis BCG, we have constructed a strain deleted for the whole operon as well as complemented strains carrying a deletion of Rv0900 or a frameshift mutation in either Rv0900 or Rv0901. Importantly, mutations in Rv0900 and/or Rv0901 strongly altered OmpATb expression, demonstrating that Rv0900 and Rv0901 play a regulatory role, which appears to occur at a post-transcriptional level.

Keywords: Membrane protein, Mycobacterium, OmpATb, Operon, Regulation