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Volume 156, Issue 1

First report of a tetracycline-inducible gene expression system for mollicutes Free

Abstract

Inducible promoter systems are powerful tools for studying gene function in prokaryotes but have never been shown to function in mollicutes. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of the tetracycline-inducible promoter P from in controlling gene expression in two mollicutes, the plant pathogen and the animal pathogen . An plasmid carrying the spiralin gene under the control of the tetracycline-inducible promoter and the TetR repressor gene under the control of a constitutive spiroplasmal promoter was introduced into the spiralin-less mutant GII3-9a3. In the absence of tetracycline, expression of TetR almost completely abolished expression of spiralin from the promoter. Adding tetracycline (>50 ng ml) to the medium induced high-level expression of spiralin. Interestingly, inducible expression of spiralin was also detected : in -infected leafhoppers fed on tetracycline-containing medium and in -infected plants watered with tetracycline. A similar construct was introduced into the chromosome through transposition. Tetracycline-induced expression of spiralin proved the TetR-P system to be functional in the ruminant pathogen, suggesting that this tetracycline-inducible promoter system might be of general use in mollicutes.

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  • Accepted:
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2010-01-01
2024-04-16
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First report of a tetracycline-inducible gene expression system for mollicutes
Microbiology 156, 198 (2010); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.034074-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.034074-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.034074-0
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