Role of GlnR in Controlling Expression of Nitrogen Metabolism Genes in Listeria monocytogenes

Abstract

L. monocytogenes is a widespread foodborne pathogen. Nitrogen-containing compounds, such as the glutamate-containing tripeptide, glutathione, and glutamine, have been shown to be important for expression of L. monocytogenes virulence genes. In this work, we showed that a transcriptional regulator, GlnR, controls expression of critical listerial genes of nitrogen metabolism that are involved in ammonium uptake and biosynthesis of glutamine and glutamate. A different mode of GlnR-mediated regulation was found for each of these three pathways.