Characterization and transcriptional regulation of the Synechocystis PCC 6803 petH gene, encoding ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase: involvement of a novel type of divergent operator.

The petH gene, encoding ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase (FNR), has been characterised in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. Its product, FNR, was heterologously produced and functionally characterized. The start-site of the monocystronic petH transcript was mapped 523 bp upstream of the predicted PetH initiation codon, resulting in an unusually large 5'-untranslated region. The 5' end of the petH transcript is situated within the open reading frame of phosphoribulokinase (encoded by prk), which is transcribed in opposite orientation with respect to petH. The transcription start site of the prk transcript was mapped 219 bp upstream of the initiation codon, resulting in a 223 bp antisense region between both transcripts. Under many conditions the expression of both genes (i.e. petH and prk) is co-regulated symmetrically at the transcriptional level, as was concluded from both northern hybridization experiments and from primer extension analyses; it became uncoupled, however, when specifically petH expression was stimulated, independent of prk expression, by stressing the Synechocystis cells with high salt concentrations. A model for a new type of bidirectional operator, regulating the expression of petH and prk, is proposed.