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Incidence and function of sigma factors in Ralstonia metallidurans and other bacteria

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Abstract

Bacterial sigma factors are essential for directing the bacterial RNA polymerase to promoter regions during transcription initiation. Genomic sequencing of the highly heavy-metal-resistant β-proteobacterium Ralstonia metallidurans strain CH34 revealed 17 candidate genes for sigma factors. This review compares the sigma factor machinery of R. metallidurans to that of other bacteria. The sigma factors of 105 bacterial genomes were assigned to sigma factor clusters and families formed around the factors from Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and R. metallidurans. Genes for between 1 and 65 sigma-factor-related proteins were found in these genomes. Although prediction of sigma factor function from sequence comparisons can be misleading, organization of the R. metallidurans sigma factors into clusters and protein families, together with a discussion of the physiological function of members of these clusters, might yield insight into the cellular roles of bacterial sigma factors and the genes that depend on them for their expression.

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Acknowledgments

The R. metallidurans genomic data were provided freely by the US DOE Joint Genome Institute (http://www.jgi.doe.gov/JGI_microbial/html/ralstonia/ralston_homepage.html) for use in this publication only. I would like to thank Cornelia Grosse, Monique Egler, and Gregor Grass for carefully reading this manuscript and the Editor Lars Hederstedt for suggestions. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Graduiertenkolleg Stress), a grant of Land Sachsen-Anhalt to found the International Graduate School (InGraS Sector Life Science) at the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie.

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  1. Institut für Mikrobiologie, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Strasse 3, 06099, Halle, Germany

    Dietrich H. Nies

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Nies, D.H. Incidence and function of sigma factors in Ralstonia metallidurans and other bacteria. Arch Microbiol 181, 255–268 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-004-0658-4

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