The lipF promoter of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is upregulated specifically by acidic pH but not by other stress conditions.

The lipF gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been implicated in pathogenesis and its promoter has been shown to be upregulated by acidic stress. To further define the acidic pH that upregulates the lipF promoter from M. tuberculosis and to establish that it is specifically upregulated by acid stress and not by other environmental stresses, promoter expression levels were measured under a variety of conditions. The conditions measured were pH, temperature, oxidative stress, and hypoxic stress.