Emergent Properties in Complex Synthetic Bacterial Promoters

Author(s)

Oliveira Monteiro, Lummy Maria ^[1] ; Arruda, Leticia Magalhaes ^[1] ; Silva-Rocha, Rafael ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Med Sch, Syst & Synthet Biol Lab, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY; v. 7, n. 2, p. 602-612, FEB 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 3

Abstract

Regulation of gene expression in bacteria results from the interplay between hundreds of transcriptional factors (TFs) at target promoters. However, how the arrangement of binding sites for TFs generates the regulatory logic of promoters is not well-known. Here, we generated and fully characterized a library of synthetic complex promoters for the global regulators, CRP and IHF, in Escherichia coli, which are formed by a weak -35/-10 consensus sequence preceded by four combinatorial binding sites for these two TFs. Using this approach, we found that while cis-elements for CRP preferentially activate promoters when located immediately upstream of the promoter consensus, binding sites for IHF mainly function as ``UP{''} elements and stimulate transcription in several different architectures in the absence of this protein. However, the combination of CRP- and IHF-binding sites resulted in emergent properties in these complex promoters, where the activity of combinatorial promoters cannot be predicted from the individual behavior of its components. Taken together, the results presented here add to the information on architecture-logic of complex promoters in bacteria. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/19179-9 - Deciphering the architecture/function relationship in complex bacterial promoters through synthetic biology approaches
• Grantee: Lummy Maria Oliveira Monteiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 12/22921-8 - Synthetic biology approaches for deciphering the logic of signal integration in complex bacterial promoters
• Grantee: Rafael Silva Rocha
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants