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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

A Fluorescence-based Method to Study Bacterial Gene Regulation in Infected Tissues
Published on: February 19, 2019
Diversity in the Bordetella virulence regulon: transcriptional control of a Bvg-intermediate phase gene
R Deora1, H J Bootsma, J F Miller
1Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and Molecular Biology Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, 10833 LeConte Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095-1747, USA.
Abstract:
The BvgAS signal transduction system controls the expression of at least three distinct phenotypic phases that lie along a continuum of gene expression states. The Bvg+ phase is characterized by the expression of adhesins and toxins, whereas the Bvg- phase is characterized by motility in Bordetella bronchiseptica and the expression of vrg loci in Bordetella pertussis. The Bvg-intermediate (Bvgi) phase is characterized by the absence of Bvg-repressed phenotypes, the expression of some, but not all, Bvg-activated virulence factors and the presence of a recently discovered set of antigens and phenotypes that are unique to this phase. We report here the transcriptional regulation of bipA, the first-identified Bvgi phase gene. We have mapped the bipA promoter and identified numerous BvgA binding sites in the transcriptional control region. Based on these data, we present a model in which phase-dependent expression of bipA results from the spatial distribution and relative affinities of multiple BvgA binding sites relative to the start site of transcription.
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