Analysis of the transcriptional activity of the hut promoter in Bacillus subtilis and identification of a cis-acting regulatory region associated with catabolite repression downstream from the site of transcription.

Levels of transcripts initiated at a hut promoter in Bacillus subtilis were analysed. The addition of histidine to the culture medium increased the level of the transcript sixfold. In the presence of histidine and glucose together, the level of the transcript was reduced to the level in the absence of induction. Furthermore, addition of a mixture of 16 amino acids to cultures of induced cells and of catabolite-repressed cells decreased levels of the transcript 16-fold and 2.6-fold, respectively. Thus, it appears that at least three regulatory mechanisms associated with induction, catabolite repression, and amino acid repression, control the transcriptional activity of the hut promoter. Expression of the hut promoter-lacZ fusions that contained various regions of the hutP gene and deletion analysis of the hutP region revealed a cis-acting sequence associated with catabolite repression that was located between positions +204 and +231 or around position +203.