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Title: TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF SIDEROPHORE BIOSYNTHESIS IN USTILAGO MAYDIS

Author
item Leong, Sally
item AN, Z - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item MCEVOY, J - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item ZHAO, Q - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item MARKLEY, J - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item MEI, B - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item Budde, Allen
item GENTIL, G - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
item VOISARD, C - UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

Submitted to: Bioiron International Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/16/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Ustilago maydis, the causal agent of corn smut disease, produces two cyclic peptide siderophores, ferrichrome and ferrichrome A, when cultivated in iron-deficient growth media. Both activity of ornithine-N5-oxygenase (sid1), the first committed enzyme in siderophore biosynthesis, and its RNA are absent in cells grown in the presence of quantities of iron that repress extracellular siderophore biosynthesis. Thus production of siderophores is controlled at the level of transcription. A gene (urbs1) regulating iron-mediated transcriptional control of sid1 was isolated by identifying mutants that were constitutive for siderophore biosynthesis [1]. urbs1 encodes a protein of ~100 kd which contains two putative zinc finger motifs of the GATA family of transcription factors and a track of 21 histidine residues at the C-terminus which may function as an iron sensor. urbs1 appears to regulate sid1 directly by repression of transcription and to require GATA as a core DNA recognition sequence within the sid1 promoter.