Control of Bacterial Sulfite Detoxification by Conserved and Species-Specific Regulatory Circuits.

Although sulfite, a by-product of the degradation of many sulfur compounds, is highly reactive and can cause damage to DNA, proteins and lipids, comparatively little is known about the regulation of sulfite-oxidizing enzyme (SOEs) expression. Here we have investigated the regulation of SOE-encoding genes in two species of α-Proteobacteria, and , that degrade organo- and inorganic sulfur compounds, respectively, and contain unrelated types of SOEs that show different expression patterns. Our work revealed that in both cases, the molecular signal that triggers SOE gene expression is sulfite, and strong up-regulation depends on the presence of a sulfite-responsive, cognate Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor, making sulfite oxidation a bacterial stress response.