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Updated: Jun 7, 2026

The Multifaceted Benefits of Protein Co-expression in Escherichia coli
Published on: February 5, 2015
Alternative promoters in the pst operon of Escherichia coli
Beny Spira1, Meire Aguena, Juliana Velasco de Castro Oliveira
1Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, São Paulo, SP 05508-900, Brazil. benys@usp.br
Abstract:
The pst operon of Escherichia coli is composed of five genes pstS, pstC, pstA, pstB and phoU, that encode a high-affinity phosphate transport system and a negative regulator of the PHO regulon. Transcription of pst is induced under phosphate shortage and is initiated at the promoter located upstream of the first gene of the operon, pstS. Here, we show by four different technical approaches the existence of additional internal promoters upstream of pstC, pstB and phoU. These promoters are not induced by Pi-limitation and do not possess PHO-box sequences. Plasmids carrying the pst internal genes partially complement chromosomal mutations in their corresponding genes, indicating that they are translated into functional proteins.
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