Part:BBa_K1682012

P_phoA- phosphate responsive promoter

Biology of P_phoA

Fig.1 Phosphate sensing mechanism of P_phoA.

E. coli has multiple native phosphorus sensing and regulation systems that we could use in the construct. Among them, we chose the PhoR/PhoB two-component system (TCS). It contains a sensory histidine kinase PhoR and a partner DNA-binding response regulator PhoB. PhoR is activated under low phosphate concentration, which will then phosphorylate PhoB. The phospho-PhoB is then capable of activating expression of the Pho regulon genes, one of the two examples are P_phoA and P_phoBR . In high phosphate concentration, phoR is turned into an inhibitory state, which interferes with phosphorylation of PhoB. PhoB is, thus, not capable of activating expression of P_phoA and P_phoBR.

Constructs for characterization

Fig.2 Phosphate sensing construct with reporter.

With the phosphate (pho) regulon from E. coli, it can be utilized for detecting phosphate level. To make a phospahte-sensing device, we obtained the promoter, P_phoA, and combined it with a GFP reporter, BBa_E0240, in BioBrick RFC10 standard so that the promoter activity in different phosphate level can be detected and characterized.

RFU measurement

Fig.3 Activity of P_phoA in E. coli DH10B in different phosphate concentrations

As shown in Figure 3, P_phoA is induced under phosphate limitation and repressed under high phosphate concentration. The fluorescence intensity dropped by 2.99 folds between 0 to 300 μM concentration of phosphate. Furthermore, a plateau is observed starting from the 300 μM phosphate concentration point, suggesting that the dynamic range of P_phoA is from 0-300 μM of phosphate.

References

Hsieh, Y. J., & Wanner, B. L. (2010). Global regulation by the seven-component P i signaling system. Current opinion in microbiology, 13(2), 198-203.

Sequence and Features

Assembly Compatibility:

• 10
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[10]
• 12
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[12]
• 21
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[21]
• 23
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[23]
• 25
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[25]
• 1000
  COMPATIBLE WITH RFC[1000]