Abstract
The human pathogen, Burkholderia pseudomalle, is able to survive and multiply in hostile environments such as within macrophages. In an attempt to understand its strategy to cope with oxidative stress, the physiological role and gene regulation of a nonspecific DNA-binding protein (DpsA) was investigated. Expression of dpsA increases in response to oxidative stress through increased transcription from the upstream katG (catalase–peroxidase) promoter, which is OxyR dependent. dpsA is also transcribed from its own promoter, which is activated by osmotic stress in an OxyR-independent manner. DpsA-deficient mutants are hypersensitive to tert-butyl hydroperoxide, while overexpression of DpsA leads to increased resistance to organic oxidants. B. pseudomallei DpsA can also protect Escherichia coli against organic hydroperoxide toxicity. The mechanism of DpsA-mediated resistance to organic hydroperoxides was shown to differ from that of alkyl hydroperoxide reductase.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Dubbs for a critical review of the manuscript and P. Munpiyamit for photograph preparation. This research was supported by grants from the Chulabhorn Research Institute and the senior research scholar RTA 4580010 grant from the Thailand Research Fund to SM.
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Loprasert, S., Whangsuk, W., Sallabhan, R. et al. DpsA protects the human pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei against organic hydroperoxide. Arch Microbiol 182, 96–101 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-004-0694-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-004-0694-0