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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Measurements of Physiological Stress Responses in C. Elegans
Published on: May 21, 2020
The rggC locus, with a frameshift mutation, is involved in oxidative stress response by Streptococcus thermophilus
Annabelle Fernandez1, Frédéric Borges, Brigitte Gintz
1Laboratoire de Génétique et Microbiologie, UMR INRA 1128, IFR 110, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de l'Université Henri Poincaré, Campus de Grignard, BP239, 54506 Vanoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
Abstract:
In Streptococcus thermophilus, the locus rggC contains a frameshift mutation and thus consists of two open reading frames (ORFs), rggC (1) and rggC (2), which encode proteins exhibiting similarity with the Rgg transcriptional regulator family. In this work, mutants showing a partial deletion of rggC (1) and rggC (2 )were constructed and their response to menadione, a superoxide-generating compound, was analysed. These mutants exhibited different behaviour to this oxidative stress compared with the wild-type strain. Analysis of this locus among 21 strains of S. thermophilus showed a polythymine tract length variability and a strain-dependant adenine residue could be found upstream of this repeat. This interstrain polymorphism supports evidence for the hypothesis that the rggC locus is phase variable.
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