H-NS is a repressor of the Proteus mirabilis urease transcriptional activator gene ureR

Expression of Proteus mirabilis urease is governed by UreR, an AraC-like positive transcriptional activator. A poly(A) tract nucleotide sequence, consisting of A(2)TA(2)CA(2)TGGTA(5)GA(6)TGA(5), is located 16 bp upstream of the sigma(70)-like ureR promoter P2. Since poly(A) tracts of DNA serve as binding sites for the gene repressor histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS), we measured beta-galactosidase activity of wild-type Escherichia coli MC4100 (H-NS+) and its isogenic derivative ATM121 (hns::Tn10) (H-NS-) harboring a ureR-lacZ operon fusion plasmid (pLC9801). beta-Galactosidase activity in the H-NS- host strain was constitutive and sevenfold greater (P < 0.0001) than that in the H-NS+ host. A recombinant plasmid containing cloned P. mirabilis hns was able to complement and restore repression of the ureR promoter in the H-NS- host when provided in trans. Deletion of the poly(A) tract nucleotide sequence from pLC9801 resulted in an increase in beta-galactosidase activity in the H-NS+ host to nearly the same levels as that observed for wild-type pLC9801 harbored by the H-NS- host. Urease activity in strains harboring the recombinant plasmid pMID1010 (encoding the entire urease gene cluster of P. mirabilis) was equivalent in both the H-NS- background and the H-NS+ background in the presence of urea but was eightfold greater (P = 0.0001) in the H-NS- background in the absence of urea. We conclude that H-NS represses ureR expression in the absence of urea induction.