Deciphering the Fur regulon in Chromobacterium violaceum

To identify the global repertoire of Fur-regulated genes in the opportunistic pathogen Chromobacterium violaceum, we performed RNa-seq analysis comparing the transcriptome of wild type and fur mutant strains. As expected, Fur acted as a global regulator repressing several genes related to iron acquisition. Importantly, Fur also repressed gene clusters of genomic islands as those encoding putative prophages, R-bodies, and the virulence-associated Cpi1/1a T3SS pathogenicity island. Our data indicated that complex networks of Fur-regulated genes allow C. violaceum to control many processes according to iron availability.