DNA sequences and characterization of dtxR alleles from Corynebacterium diphtheriae PW8(-), 1030(-), and C7hm723(-)

The structural gene encoding DtxR, an iron-dependent diphtheria tox regulatory element, has recently been cloned and sequenced from the C7(-) strain of Corynebacterium diphtheriae (J. M. Boyd, M. Oza, and J. R. Murphy, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:5972, 1990). We report here the molecular cloning, DNA sequence analysis, and characterization of DtxR from the PW8(-), 1030(-), and C7hm723 strains of C. diphtheriae. While the sequence of dtxR from PW8(-) is identical to that of the C7(-) allele, the sequence of dtxR from the 1030(-) strain is only 91.4% identical; however, the deduced amino acid sequence of DtxR from 1030(-) differs by only 6 of 678 amino acids. Moreover, DtxR from all three strains is shown to regulate expression of beta-galactosidase from a tox promoter-operator (toxPO)-lacZ transcriptional fusion. In contrast, the dtxR allele from the iron-insensitive tox constitutive mutant C7hm723 was found to have a single G----A transition, resulting in a substitution of Arg-47 to His and the loss of tox regulatory activity in recombinant Escherichia coli.