Summary
A Tn551 insertional mutation in the accessory gene regulator (agr) locus of the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome resulted in the decreased production of at least seven extracellular toxins and enzymes and a simultaneous increase in the production of protein A and coagulase (Recsei et al. 1986). Adjacent to this locus we have now identified another gene, hld, transcribed into a 0.5 kb RNA which codes for the staphylococcal delta-lysin. The expression of hld, was totally repressed in a strain carrying the agr insertional mutation. Hybridization with strand-specific probes and primer extension analysis revealed that hld, and agr are transcribed in opposite directions, starting 188 nucleotides apart. The hld, gene is mainly expressed during the post-exponential growth phase and is totally repressed during early exponential growth. Determination of hld, mRNA half-life in different growth phases indicated that this regulation is at the level of transcription.
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Communicated by J. Lengeler
In the paper cloning of a chromosomal locus (exp) which regulates the expression of several exoprotein genes in Staphylococcus aureus (Morfeldt et al. 1988) which appeared in Mol Gen Genet volume 211, we described the cloning of the chromosomal DNA sequences surrounding a Tn551 insertion from a strain WA250. This strain was claimed to be obtained by transduction of the insertion from strain WA205 (derivative of strain V8) to strain 8325-4. Unfortunately, due to misnaming of strains, WA250 has later turned out to be a derivative of 8325-4 obtained by transduction of the insertional agr mutation of strain RN4256 (Recsei et al. 1986) which has a pleiotropic exoprotein deficiency indistinguishable from that of WA205. Consequently the cloned regulatory locus should be referred to as agr
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Janzon, L., Löfdahl, S. & Arvidson, S. Identification and nucleotide sequence of the delta-lysin gene, hld, adjacent to the accessory gene regulator (agr) of Staphylococcus aureus . Mol Gen Genet 219, 480–485 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259623
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00259623