Cloning and Characterization of a Gene (fadR) Involved in Regulation of Fatty Acid Metabolism in \u3ci\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/i\u3e

The regulatory gene fadR has been previously characterized by classical genetic means as a diffusible protein which exerts negative control over fatty acid degradation and acetate metabolism. fadR has also been implicated in the regulation of unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. To facilitate the identification of the product of the fadR gene and to study the mechanism by which this multifunctional regulatory gene exerts its control, we cloned a segment of DNA containing the fadR gene in the phage vector λL47. Subsequent subcloning of a segment of the chromosomal DNA from the λfadR+ phage into various plasmid vectors resulted in the isolation of the fadR gene on a 1.3-kilobase-pair HindIII-EcoRV fragment. fadR strains harboring the clonedfadR\u27 gene showed inducible levels of fatty acid oxidation and crotonase (enoyl-coenzyme A-hydratase, fadB) activity. The cloned gene exerted transcriptional control over 13-galactosidase synthesis in an fadR strain that had a λΦ(fadE-lacZ+) operon fusion. An fadR mutation in fabA(Ts) strains prevents growth at permissive temperatures without unsaturated fatty acid supplementation (Nunn et al., J. Bacteriol. 154:554-560, 1983). Plasmids carrying the fadR+ gene suppress this unsaturated fatty acid auxotrophy in fadR fabA(Ts) strains at the permissive condition. Maxiceli analysis identified a 29,000-dalton protein encoded by the 1.3-kilobase fragment which appeared to be associated with functional fadR gene activity