Disease relevance of rpoE

• A new gene, mclA, encoding a polypeptide with an apparent molecular mass of 27.7 kDa was identified immediately downstream of rpoE in E. coli [1].
• Functional equivalence of Escherichia coli sigma E and Pseudomonas aeruginosa AlgU: E. coli rpoE restores mucoidy and reduces sensitivity to reactive oxygen intermediates in algU mutants of P. aeruginosa [1].
• A Salmonella enterica psp mutation exacerbates some phenotypes of an rpoE null mutant and the psp genes of S. enterica and Shigella flexneri are highly induced during macrophage infection [2].
• We describe the identification of the Yersinia enterocolitica rpoE gene, which encodes the alternative sigma factor sigmaE, and the divergently transcribed nadB gene, as genes that are expressed during infection of mice [3].
• Attempts to optimize this system for identification of promoters recognized by RNA polymerase containing E. coli extracytoplasmic stress response sigma(E) failed owing to high toxicity of the expressed rpoE [4].

High impact information on rpoE

• Here, we obtained rpoE, encoding an extracytoplasmic stress response sigma factor (sigma(E)), as a multicopy suppressor against the yaeL disruption [5].
• Some of these might contribute to the integrity of the cell since delta rpoE cells are more sensitive to SDS plus EDTA and crystal violet. sigma E controls its own transcription from a sigma E-dependent promoter, indicating that rpoE transcription plays a role in the regulation of E sigma E activity [6].
• We provide evidence that the expression of stress envelope response genes, such as the psp operon or elements of the cpx and rpoE pathways, is a general feature of E. coli mature biofilms [7].
• We constructed a degS mutant of the serovar Typhimurium strain SL1344 and compared its behavior in vitro and in vivo with those of its wild-type (WT) parent and an isogenic rpoE mutant [8].
• We demonstrate that expression of htrA is completely dependent on the rpoE gene in vivo and that the rpoE gene is essential for bacterial growth at high temperature [9].

Biological context of rpoE

• The location of the rpoE gene encoding sigma E on the Escherichia coli chromosome has recently been established, but no rpoE mutant has yet become available for phenotypic testing [9].
• We cloned the rpoE gene from the lambda-ordered clones of the E. coli genome and confirmed that the reconstituted RNA polymerase containing the gene product (E sigma E) can transcribe htrA in vitro [9].
• All the promoters contained sequences similar to the consensus sequence of rpoE-dependent promoters [10].
• We analysed expression of rpoE by wild-type and mutant bacteria grown in different conditions by S1-nuclease mapping using RNA, and using in vivo reporter gene fusions [11].

References