coli DH5α cells harboring pGAD10 or pGadXY were examined by Western blotting using antibodies against envelope proteins BtuB, TolQ, TolR, TolA, TolB, Pal, and OmpF. Effect of gadXY on btuB promoter To determine whether gadXY affects the transcription Belinostat supplier of btuB, the β-galactosidase reporter assay was performed. The 461-, 673-, 913-, and 1285-bp DNA fragments (Figure 3) containing the promoter

of btuB were fused with the lacZ coding sequence to generate pCB461lacZ, pCB673lacZ, pCB913lacZ, and pCB1285lacZ, respectively. Each of these single copy plasmid together with pGAD10 or pGadXY was transformed into E. coli strain DH5α. The transformed cells were grown in LB medium with 50 μg/ml of chloramphenicol and ampicilin to OD600~0.8 then Epigenetics Compound Library cell line assayed for β-galactosidase activity as described by Miller [39]. The β-galactosidase activity of cells containing pGadXY and a pCB derivative with the btuB promoter-lacZ fusion was divided by that of cells containing the control plasmid pGAD10 and the same pCB derivative to determine the percent decrease in btuB promoter activity in the presence of gadXY. The btuB promoter in the 461-, 673-, 913-, and 1285-bp DNA fragment was found to be decreased by 45.7, 47.1, 54.5, and 56.7%, respectively in the presence of gadXY, and was about 6 fold more active in the 1285-bp fragment than in other fragments (Table 2). Figure 3 DNA fragments containing the btuB promoter used for lacZ fusions.

The btuB initiation codon ATG is located at nucleotide position +242. Asterisk indicates the first nucleotide of the btuB mRNA. The trmA (tRNA methyltransferase) gene

is located upstream from btuB. It has no known effect on btuB expression. Table 2 Effect of learn more gadXY on btuB promoter Plasmid β-galactosidase activitya % inhibitionb (A): pGAD10 + pC-lacZ 0   (B): pGadXY + pC-lacZ 0   (A): pGAD10 + pCB461lacZ 6.4 ± 0.2 45.7 (B): pGadXY L-NAME HCl + pCB461lacZ 3.5 ± 0.2   (A): pGAD10 + pCB673lacZ 7.2 ± 0.1 47.1 (B): pGadXY + pCB673lacZ 3.8 ± 0.1   (A): pGAD10 + pCB913lacZ 4.8 ± 0.2 54.5 (B): pGadXY + pCB913lacZ 2.2 ± 0.5   (A): pGAD10 + pCB1285lacZ 37.5 ± 0.7 56.7 (B): pGadXY + pCB1285lacZ 16.2 ± 0.5   aMiller unit. bCaculated according to the following equation: 1- [β-galactosidase activity of (B) ÷ β-galactosidase activity of (A)] × 100%. To investigate the effect of gadX or gadY alone on the promoter activity of btuB, the same experiment was performed using DH5α cells containing pCB1285lacZ and pGAD10, pGadXY, pGadX, or pGadY. The β-galactosidase activity of cells containing pCB1285lacZ and pGadXY, pGadX, or pGadY was compared to those containing pGAD10 and pCB1285lacZ. The results indicated that btuB promoter activity was decreased 20.5% by gadX and 20.3% by gadY, but was decreased 54.4% by gadXY (Table 3). Table 3 Effect of gadX, gadY, and gadXY on btuB promoter Plasmids β-galactosidase activitya % inhibitionb (A): pGAD10/pC-lacZ 0   (B): pGAD10/pCB1285lacZ 48.8 ± 3.9   (C): pGadXY/pCB1285lacZ 22.3 ± 0.7 54.4 (D): pGadX/pCB1285lacZ 38.9 ± 2.