Involvement of ArcA and Fnr in expression of Escherichia coli thiol peroxidase gene

To explore the oxygen response regulators involved in thiol peroxidase gene (tpx) expression in Escherichia coli, we constructed a single-copy tpx-lacZ operon fusion and monitored tpx-lacZ expression in various genetic backgrounds. Expression of the tpx-lacZ fusion was increased l-fold by aerobic growth. Anaerobic expression of tpx-lacZ in either Delta arcA or Delta fnr strains was 2.5-fold depressed compared with that of the wild-type strain. The results of immunoblotting experiments also demonstrated that ArcA and Fnr regulatory proteins repressed thiol peroxidase gene expression during anaerobic growth. Inspection of the tpx promoter region revealed putative binding sites for ArcA and Fnr. It thus appears that ArcA and Fnr function as repressors by blocking the binding of RNA polymerase to the tpx promoter in E. call under anaerobic growth conditions.