Use of site-directed mutagenesis to identify an upstream regulatory sequence of sodA gene of Escherichia coli K-12.

Mn-containing superoxide dismutase (SodA; superoxide:superoxide oxidoreductase, EC 1.15.1.1) biosynthesis in Escherichia coli is regulated by several environmental stimuli. The DNA sequence of sodA shows the presence of a potential binding site for a regulatory protein(s) at the -35 region. To explore the possible role of this region in the regulation of sodA, we used oligonucleotide-directed site-specific mutagenesis to change the sequence of nucleotides -48 through -44 from 5'-GGCAT-3' to 5'-TTACG-3'. We studied the effect of this altered sequence on the expression of sodA. The data showed that the altered sequence resulted in the constitutive expression of the gene. Thus, E. coli harboring a plasmid containing the mutated sodA gene (pSNM6) were uninducible by paraquat in aerobiosis or by 2,2'-dipyridyl in aerobiosis or anaerobiosis. Furthermore, a multicopy plasmid containing the mutated sodA failed to titrate the repressor molecules present in an E. coli strain carrying the sodA-lacZ fusion. In contrast, multicopy plasmids containing the wild-type sodA gene were able to titrate the repressor protein and to cause the anaerobic induction of beta-galactosidase in this sodA-lacZ fusion strain. These results indicate that the region within and around the mutated sequence probably plays an important role in sodA regulation and that the mutation disrupts a sequence that interacts with the repressor.