Binding of the metalloregulatory protein DtxR to the diphtheria tox operator requires a divalent heavy metal ion and protects the palindromic sequence from DNase I digestion.

Transcription of the corynebacteriophage diphtheria tox operon has been shown to be regulated through a corynebacterial determined factor DtxR. The dtxR gene has been recently cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli, and shown to regulate the expression of beta-galactosidase expression from a diphtheria tox promoter/operator-lacZ transcriptional fusion. Tao et al. (Tao, X., Boyd, J., and Murphy, J. R. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 5897-5901) have recently shown by gel mobility shift assay that the binding of DtxR to the tox operator requires a divalent heavy metal ion, as well as the 27-base pair interrupted palindromic sequence. We now show the activation of DtxR in the presence of Co2+, Fe2+, or Mn2+ results in the protection of a 33- and 27-nucleotide region on the coding and non-coding strand from DNase I digestion, respectively. DtxR is also activated in the presence of Ni2+; however, this metalloregulatory factor is only weakly activated by Zn2+. The diphtheria tox regulatory region protected from DNase I digestion in the presence of activated DtxR encompasses the 27-base pair interrupted palindromic sequence.