Characterization of a Chlamydia psittaci DNA binding protein (EUO) synthesized during the early and middle phases of the developmental cycle.

The EUO gene (for early upstream open reading frame) of Chlamydia psittaci was previously found to be transcribed better at 1 than at 24 h postinfection. We found that the EUO gene encodes a minor protein that is expressed within 1 h of infection of host cells with C. psittaci 6BC but that protein quantity peaks during the logarithmic growth phase of reticulate bodies (RBs), declines late in the infection (after 20 h) when RBs reorganize into elementary bodies (EBs), and is absent in infectious EBs. EUO protein lacks homology to known proteins but does contain a putative helix-turn-helix motif. We found that recombinant EUO binds to DNA in vitro with a relatively broad specificity. Using the bp -200 to +67 promoter region of the cysteine-rich envelope protein (crp) operon as a model, we show that EUO protein preferentially binds to AT-rich sequences and protects crp DNA from DNase I from approximately bp -60 to -9. We also found that native EUO protein in extracts of RBs binds to the promoter region of the crp operon, demonstrating that the DNA binding property of EUO protein is not an artifact of recombinant methods. Although EUO protein appears to bind to the crp operon with high affinity in vitro (Kd of about 15 nM), it is not known whether the protein binds the crp DNA in vivo.