One salient feature of Clr binding at the smc02178 promoter DNA was instability. In spite of the many binding and electrophoresis conditions tested, we consistently observed a smear instead of a clear-cut band shift upon binding of Clr to its target DNA. One feature that may account for this instability is that the Clr binding site is TGTTN8 AACA, a shorter palindrome as compared to the consensus E. coli CRP(CAP)-binding site TGTGAN6 TCACA. Identification of this binding motif, together with transcriptome analysis experiments, will help identification of new Clr targets in the S. meliloti genome. The reason for

which 2′, 3′cAMP did not promote DNA-binding of Clr is Ruxolitinib cell line unclear. Although Clr bound 2′, 3′cAMP in vitro at high concentration (30 mM), it may not do so at the concentration of 2′, 3′cAMP that we used in EMSA assays (200 μM). Alternatively, 2′, 3′cAMP may not trigger the appropriate conformational change that allows Crp binding to DNA. Further experiments are needed to distinguish between these two possibilities. SpdA encodes a 2′,

3′cNMP phosphodiesterase Class III PDEs are metallophosphoesterases carrying the IPR004843 domain. IPR004843-containing proteins have a wide range of substrates, including cyclic nucleotides, and ensure a variety of biological functions [17]. S. meliloti has 15 uncharacterized IPR004843-containing proteins (see Additional file Selleck SB203580 1) and we have demonstrated that purified SpdA has a PDE activity in vitro (Figure 3). We have further found that SpdA had no or little activity against

3′, 5′cAMP or 3′, 5′cGMP and instead had high activity against 2′, 3′cAMP or 2′, 3′cGMP. Although this cannot be formally excluded it is unlikely that SpdA would have a predominant 3′, 5′cAMP PDE activity in vivo since a SpdA null mutant had lower, and not enhanced, smc02178 expression in vivo (Figure 6C). Substrate specificity varies widely among class III PDEs. CpdA from E. coli and P. aeruginosa, Icc from Haemophilus influenzae are 3′, 5′cNMP PDEs [21, 22, 29] whereas E. coli CpdB Reverse transcriptase was the first described 2′, 3′cNMP-specific PDE [30]. Rv0805 from M. tuberculosis, although it was first reported as a 3′, 5′cNMP PDE [20], has a much stronger activity (150 times fold) against 2′, 3′cNMP than against 3′, 5′cNMP [31]. Myxococcus xanthus PdeA and PdeB instead hydrolyse 2′, 3′cNMP and 3′, 5′cNMP with the same affinity [32]. Hence class III PDEs substrate specificity cannot be predicted from simple primary sequence inspection. It is thus possible that several IPR004843 proteins of S. meliloti display a 2′, 3′cyclic phosphodiesterase activity, thus contributing a functional redundancy. A surprising feature of SpdA was the absence of associated metal ion which is, to our knowledge, unique among IPR004843-containing proteins. Rv0805 activity for example was not inhibited by metal chelators but was boosted by Mn2+ Y-27632 solubility dmso addition [20].