Dynamic equilibrium on DNA defines transcriptional regulation of a multidrug binding transcriptional repressor, LmrR

Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 21;7(1):267. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-00257-x.

Abstract

LmrR is a multidrug binding transcriptional repressor that controls the expression of a major multidrug transporter, LmrCD, in Lactococcus lactis. Promiscuous compound ligations reduce the affinity of LmrR for the lmrCD operator by several fold to release the transcriptional repression; however, the affinity reduction is orders of magnitude smaller than that of typical transcriptional repressors. Here, we found that the transcriptional regulation of LmrR is achieved through an equilibrium between the operator-bound and non-specific DNA-adsorption states in vivo. The effective dissociation constant of LmrR for the lmrCD operator under the equilibrium is close to the endogenous concentration of LmrR, which allows a substantial reduction of LmrR occupancy upon compound ligations. Therefore, LmrR represents a dynamic type of transcriptional regulation of prokaryotic multidrug resistance systems, where the small affinity reduction induced by compounds is coupled to the functional relocalization of the repressor on the genomic DNA via nonspecific DNA adsorption.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / metabolism
  • DNA, Bacterial / metabolism
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  • Lactococcus lactis / genetics*
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins / genetics
  • Operator Regions, Genetic
  • Protein Binding
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • DNA, Bacterial
  • LmrC protein, Lactococcus lactis
  • LmrD protein, Lactococcus lactis
  • Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins