Role of uhp genes in expression of the Escherichia coli sugar-phosphate transport system.

The uhpABCT locus of Escherichia coli is responsible for expression of the sugar-phosphate transport system and its induction by external glucose 6-phosphate. Expression of uhpT-lacZ fusions depended on the function of uhpA, uhpB, and uhpC but not of uhpT. A plasmid carrying only uhpT conferred transport activity in a host strain deleted for the uhp region. Thus, uhpT encodes the polypeptide required for transport function, and the other three uhp genes regulate uhpT transcription. The presence of uhpA at elevated copy number resulted in a substantial increase in uhpT expression. This elevated expression was only about 50% of the level seen in induced haploid cells, and no further increase occurred after addition of inducer. Activation by multicopy uhpA was not affected by the status of uhpC but was decreased in the absence of uhpB, suggesting a role for UhpB in directly activating UhpA. Transcription of uhpA, monitored by expression of a uhpA-lacZ fusion, was not affected by either inducer or the presence of the wild-type uhpA allele. The presence of multiple copies of the uhpT promoter region reduced uhpT expression in strains with uhpA in single copy number but not in those with multiple copies, consistent with competition for the activator. Amino acid sequence comparisons showed that UhpA was homologous to a family of bacterial regulatory proteins, some of which act as transcriptional activators (OmpR, PhoB, NtrC, and DctD). The C-terminal portion of UhpB displayed matches to the corresponding portions of another family of proteins (EnvZ, PhoMR, NtrB, and DctB) that participate in regulation of gene expression in response to environmental factors.