So, I am looking at condition regulating the expression of a group of virulence gene.
I have several genes, all supposedly on the same operon, and, sure enough, they all seem to react together when cultivated under low iron conditions.
But, the thing is that, when I look at 4 different isolates of the same species, only half of them seem to be up-regulated. The other isolates don't seem activated under the same environmental condition...
One of the non-responsive isolate is supposed to be attenuated, so that could be an explanation but the other one is virulent.
I am planning on testing other environmental conidtions but, in the meantime, how likely would you expect the same operon to have different regulatory conditions across different isolates?
There are some possible factors:
Other genes are contributing to the virulence.
The virulent isolate may has a mutation(s) in protein(s) affecting the transcription level of the operilon in question.
Jameel M. Abduljalil
But that would lead to the silencing of the operon and that would be seen through decreased virulence...
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