A class of Escherichia coli proteins controlled by the hflA locus

The HflA protein of Escherichia coli is critical for the choice of the lytic or lysogenic pathway by bacteriophage lambda. To investigate whether HflA plays a regulatory role in E. coli, we used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to compare the distribution of E. coli proteins in hflA+ and hflA- cells. We found at least 13 proteins that are present in hflA- strains, but absent or very low in hflA+ strains. This observation indicates that HflA might be involved in regulation of a large class of E. coli proteins. Because of prior work implicating the Crp/cAMP system in Hfl-mediated regulation of lambda, we also studied the distribution of E. coli proteins in cya- strains unable to synthesize cAMP. Some of the same proteins found in hflA- are elicited by the addition of cAMP to cya- cells.