Autoactivation and environmental regulation of <i>bfpT</i> expression, the gene coding for the transcriptional activator of <i>bfpA</i> in enteropathogenic <i>Escherichia coli</i>

Abstract excerpt

Expression of bfpA, the gene coding for the structural subunit of the bundle-forming pili (BFP) in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), requires the product of bfpT (also called perA), a member of the AraC family of transcriptional regulators. Here, we show that bfpT-cat fusions were not expressed in a bfpT - or in a non-EPEC strain, unless a functional bfpT was present, indicating that an autoregulatory...