Predicting cis-acting elements of Lactobacillus plantarum by comparative genomics with different taxonomic subgroups

Cis-acting elements in Lactobacillus plantarum were predicted by comparative analysis of the upstream regions of conserved genes and predicted transcriptional units (TUs) in different bacterial genomes. TUs were predicted for two species sets, with different evolutionary distances to L.plantarum. TUs were designated ‘cluster of orthologous transcriptional units’ (COT) when >50% of the genes were orthologous in different species. Conserved DNA sequences were detected in the upstream regions of different COTs. Subsequently, conserved motifs were used to scan upstream regions of all TUs. This method revealed 18 regulatory motifs only present in lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The 18 LAB-specific candidate regulatory motifs included 13 that were not described previously. These LAB-specific different motifs were found in front of genes encoding functions varying from cold shock proteins to RNA and DNA polymerases, and many unknown functions. The best-described LAB-specific motif found was the CopR-binding site, regulating expression of copper transport ATPases. Finally, all detected motifs were used to predict co-regulated TUs (regulons) for L.plantarum, and transcriptome profiling data were analyzed to provide regulon prediction validation. It is demonstrated that phylogenetic footprinting using different species sets can identify and distinguish between general regulatory motifs and LAB-specific regulatory motifs.