A Green Nonsulfur Bacterium, Dehalococcoides ethenogenes, with the LexA Binding Sequence Found in Gram-Positive Organisms

Dehalococcoides ethenogenes is a member of the physiologically diverse division of green nonsulfur bacteria. Using a TBLASTN search, the D. ethenogenes lexA gene has been identified, cloned, and expressed and its protein has been purified. Mobility shift assays revealed that the D. ethenogenes LexA protein specifically binds to both its own promoter and that of the uvrA gene, but not to the recA promoter. Our results demonstrate that the D. ethenogenes LexA binding site is GAACN(4)GTTC, which is identical to that found in gram-positive bacteria. In agreement with this fact, the Bacillus subtilis DinR protein binds specifically to the D. ethenogenes LexA operator. This constitutes the first non-gram-positive bacterium exhibiting a LexA binding site identical to that of B. subtilis.