AUTHOR=Jia Xianbo , Zhao Ke , Liu Fangchen , Lin Junjie , Lin Chenqiang , Chen Jichen 

TITLE=Transcriptional factor OmpR positively regulates prodigiosin biosynthesis in Serratia marcescens FZSF02 by binding with the promoter of the prodigiosin cluster

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1041146

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1041146

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Prodigiosin is a promising secondary metabolite mainly produced by <italic>Serratia marcescens</italic>. The production of prodigiosin by <italic>S. marcescens</italic> is regulated by different kinds of regulatory systems, including the EnvZ/OmpR system. In this study, we demonstrated that the regulatory factor OmpR positively regulated prodigiosin production in <italic>S. marcescens</italic> FZSF02 by directly binding to the promoter region of the prodigiosin biosynthesis cluster with a <italic>lacZ</italic> reporter assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). The binding sequence with the <italic>pig</italic> promoter was identified by a DNase I footprinting assay. We further demonstrate that OmpR regulates its own expression by directly binding to the promoter region of <italic>envZ</italic>/<italic>ompR</italic>. For the first time, the regulatory mechanism of prodigiosin production by the transcriptional factor OmpR was revealed.</p>