FNR activates and represses transcription in vitro

FNR is an iron-binding transcriptional regulator for anaerobic gene expression in Escherichia coli. Footprinting studies with the purified protein have confirmed that it is a site-specific DNA-binding protein. Transcription tests with the positively-regulated FFmelR promoter and the negatively-regulated ndh promoter likewise demonstrated that FNR can activate or repress transcription in vitro. Reducing conditions were not required but activity was abolished by substituting an essential cysteine residue with alanine (C122A) and the affinity for DNA was reduced by iron-depletion. The start point(s) for transcription of the FNR-repressed NADH dehydrogenase II gene (ndh) were identified by transcript mapping and the corresponding promoter (-35 and -10 sequences) was located immediately downstream of the FNR-binding site.