Direct Regulons of AtxA, the Master Virulence Regulator of Bacillus anthracis
Yoshikazu Furuta, Cheng Cheng, Tuvshinzaya Zorigt, Atmika Paudel, Shun Izumi, Mai Tsujinouchi, Tomoko Shimizu, Wim G. Meijer, Hideaki Higashi
Abstract
Bacillus anthracis is the Gram-positive bacterial species that causes anthrax. Anthrax is still prevalent in countries mainly in Asia and Africa, where it causes economic damage and remains a public health issue. The mechanism of pathogenicity is mainly explained by the three toxin proteins expressed from the pXO1 plasmid and by proteins involved in capsule formation expressed from the pXO2 plasmid. AtxA is a protein expressed from the pXO1 plasmid that is known to upregulate genes involved in toxin production and capsule formation and is thus considered the master virulence regulator of B. anthracis. Therefore, understanding the detailed mechanism of gene regulation is important for the control of anthrax. The significance of this work lies in the identification of genes that are directly regulated by AtxA via genome-wide analyses. The results reveal the first layer of the gene regulatory network for the pathogenicity of B. anthracis and provide useful resources for a further understanding of B. anthracis.