Identification of trans- and cis-control elements involved in regulation of the carbon monoxide dehydrogenase genes in Mycobacterium sp. strain JC1 DSM 3803.

The cutR gene was identified 314 bp upstream of the divergently oriented cutB1C1A1 operon encoding carbon monoxide (CO) dehydrogenase in Mycobacterium sp. strain JC1. Its deduced product was composed of 320 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 34.1 kDa and exhibits a basal sequence similarity to the regulatory proteins belonging to the LysR family. Using a cutR deletion mutant, it was demonstrated that CutR is required for the efficient utilization of CO by Mycobacterium sp. strain JC1 growing with CO as the sole source of carbon and energy. CutR served as a transcriptional activator for expression of the duplicated cutBCA operons (cutB1C1A1 and cutB2C2A2) and was involved in the induction of the cutBCA operons by CO. The cutBCA operons were also subjected to catabolite repression. An inverted repeat sequence (TGTGA-N(6)-TCACA) with a perfect match with the binding motif of cyclic AMP receptor protein was identified immediately upstream of and overlapping with the translational start codons of cutB1 and cutB2. This palindrome sequence was shown to be involved in catabolite repression of the cutBCA operons. The transcription start point of cutR was determined to be the nucleotide G located 36 bp upstream of the start codon of cutR. Expression of cutR was higher in Mycobacterium sp. strain JC1 grown with glucose than that grown with CO.