Selection of mutations that alter the osmotic control of transcription of the Salmonella typhimurium proU operon.

We isolated 60 independent mutations, designated osmX, in Salmonella typhimurium that result in constitutive expression of the normally osmoregulated proU operon. Each of the osmX mutations is closely linked to the proU locus and cis-dominant over the osmX+ allele in diploid strains. These results suggest that the mutations are probably in the 5' transcriptional control region of the proU operon. Our failure to obtain either recessive or unlinked mutations that altered the osmotic control of transcription of the proU operon suggests that transcriptional regulation of the gene is not under the negative control of a repressor protein that is dispensable for cell viability. We discuss possible models for the mechanism of osmotic regulation of transcription of the proU operon.