O2 as the regulatory signal for FNR-dependent gene regulation in Escherichia coli

With an oxystat, changes in the pattern of expression of FNR-dependent genes from Escherichia coli were studied as a function of the O2 tension (pO2) in the medium. Expression of all four tested genes was decreased by increasing O2. However, the pO2 values that gave rise to half-maximal repression (pO(0.5)) were dependent on the particular promoter and varied between 1 and 5 millibars (1 bar = 10(5) Pa). The pO(0.5) value for the ArcA-regulated succinate dehydrogenase genes was in the same range (pO(0.5) = 4.6 millibars). At these pO2 values, the cytoplasm can be calculated to be well supplied with O2 by diffusion. Therefore, intracellular O2 could provide the signal to FNR, suggesting that…