Competition between VanUG Repressor and VanRG Activator Leads to Rheostatic Control of vanG Vancomycin Resistance Operon Expression

Enterococcus faecalis BM4518 is resistant to vancomycin by synthesis of peptidoglycan precursors ending in D-alanyl-D-serine. In the chromosomal vanG locus, transcription of the resistance genes from the PYG resistance promoter is inducible and, upstream from these genes, there is an unusual three-component regulatory system encoded by the vanURSG operon from the PUG regulatory promoter. In contrast to the other van operons in enterococci, the vanG operon possesses the additional vanUG gene which encodes a transcriptional regulator whose role remains unknown. We show by DNase I footprinting, RT-qPCR, and reporter proteins activities that VanUG, but not VanRG, binds to PUG and negatively autoregulates the vanURSG operon and that it also represses PYG where it overlaps with VanRG for binding. In clinical isolate BM4518, the transcription level of the resistance genes was dependent on vancomycin concentration whereas, in a ΔvanUG mutant, resistance was expressed at a maximum level even at low concentrations of the inducer. The binding competition between VanUG and VanRG on the PYG resistance promoter allowed rheostatic activation of the resistance operon depending likely on the level of VanRG phosphorylation by the VanSG sensor. In addition, there was cross-talk between VanSG and VanR'G, a VanRG homolog, encoded elsewhere in the chromosome indicating a sophisticated and subtle regulation of vancomycin resistance expression by a complex two-component system.