Upstream repression and CRP stimulation of the Escherichia coli L-arabinose operon

Abstract

Repression of the Escherichia coli araBAD promoter, PBAD, was studied using a mutant PBAD promoter (cip-5) that is expressed in the absence of the two proteins required for PBAD induction, AraC protein and the cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP-cAMP). Like the wild type promoter, cip-5 was repressed by AraC protein, and this repression required a site well upstream of the transcriptional start site. cip-5 was used to determine whether repression results from interference with the functioning of either AraC protein at araI and/or CRP-cAMP. Repression of cip-5 was eliminated by a point mutation within the AraC protein binding site araI but was not affected in the absence of CRP-cAMP. These results suggest that repression involves an interaction between two AraC protein binding sites located over 200 nucleotides apart. Our results also suggest that the majority of the CRP requirement for PBAD is a result of PBAD repression. When repression was abolished by deletion of the araO2 site, the requirement for CRP-cAMP in PBAD induction was greatly reduced.