rbcR [correction of rcbR], a gene coding for a member of the LysR family of transcriptional regulators, is located upstream of the expressed set of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase genes in the photosynthetic bacterium Chromatium vinosum

Abstract

An open reading frame, rbcR, was identified 226 bp upstream of rbcAB, i.e., the ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase genes expressed in the phototrophic purple bacterium Chromatium vinosum. Several features reveal that rbcR encodes a member of the LysR family of transcriptional regulators, in which an anomalous content of lysine and arginine residues (Lys/Arg anomaly) was found. The expression of rbcR in Escherichia coli as a protein fused to the N-terminal region of beta-galactosidase led to reduced expression of rbcAB. Thus, rbcR is likely to encode a trans-acting transcriptional regulator of rbcAB expression in C. vinosum.