NADPH inhibits transcription of the Escherichia coli manganese superoxide dismutase gene (sodA) in vitro.

We have previously reported that the thiols glutathione, dithiothreitol, and beta-mercaptoethanol suppress transcription of the Escherichia coli manganese-containing superoxide dismutase gene (sodA) in an in vitro coupled transcription plus translation system (Gardner, P. R., and Fridovich, I. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 17591-17595). We now report that NADPH, but not NADH, selectively decreases transcription of sodA in vitro and that an NADPH generating system utilizing glucose 6-phosphate and the corresponding dehydrogenase markedly augments this suppressive effect. A redox buffer containing various ratios of oxidized and reduced glutathione also modulated transcription of sodA thus demonstrating the existence of a redox-sensitive mechanism controlling sodA transcription. Fusion of a 120-base pair fragment, containing 90 base pairs of DNA upstream of the sodA transcription initiation site, to a promoterless galactokinase gene (galK) conferred redox-sensitivity to GalK synthesis. We propose that these redox effects act through a redox-sensitive regulator of sodA and that the anabolic reduction charge, [NADPH]/([NADPH]+[NADP+]), is one cellular signal controlling sodA transcription.