Disease relevance of bvgA

• Transcriptional initiation sites upstream of bvgA were mapped by primer extension analysis in E. coli and B. pertussis [1].
• B. avium and B. avium-like chromosomal DNA failed to hybridize to B. pertussis bvgA [2].
• The bvgA gene of Bordetella pertussis encodes a transcriptional activator required for coordinate regulation of several virulence genes [3].

High impact information on bvgA

• The bvgP1 promoter is a positively autoregulated promoter located 90 base pairs upstream of bvgA [1].
• The nucleotide sequence of the bvg region has been determined and three open reading frames, bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC, are present [4].
• In both cases, the mutant phenotype was due to a single nucleotide change in bvgA resulting in a single amino acid substitution in BvgA [5].
• The wild-type bvg locus present on a multicopy plasmid cannot complement avirulent derivatives of B. bronchiseptica to wild-type levels, but it can do so when the bvgA gene on the plasmid is inactivated [6].
• A plasmid vector was designed, constructed, and used for the repeated retrieval of the bvgA gene from a number of Bordetella pertussis strains that, due to mutations in this gene, exhibited interesting phenotypes regarding the regulation of virulence genes [7].

Biological context of bvgA

• The vector was used in a scheme called allelic retrieval that exploits two cross-overs between cloned plasmid and native chromosomal sequences flanking the bvgA gene [7].
• The regulatory regions found upstream of fhaB and bvgA which are involved in protein binding both contain the sequence TTTCCTA [8].
• In this study a series of lacZYA fusions containing deletions in either the fhaB or bvgA promoter regions was used to identify cis-acting regulatory regions required for bvg activation of these two genes [8].
• We conclude from these data that bvgA, bvgB, and bvgC comprise an operon encoding the components essential for coordinate regulation and sensory transduction [3].
• Our data show that overexpression of the bvgA gene from a strong heterologous promoter results in transcriptional activation of the fhaB::lacZYA fusion even in the absence of the bvgB and bvgC products [3].

Other interactions of bvgA

• Activation of fhaB transcription by bvgA overexpression in E. coli is no longer repressed by environmental conditions [3].
• The nucleotide (nt) and deduced amino-acid sequences of these two genes were found to be homologous to those of the Bordetella pertussis bvgA and bvgS genes [9].
• Mutations in the bvgA gene of Bordetella pertussis that differentially affect regulation of virulence determinants [10].

References