The CarA/LitR-Family Transcriptional Regulator: Its Possible Role as a Photosensor and Wide Distribution in Non-Phototrophic Bacteria

Abstract

LitR is a MerR-family regulator that controls light-induced carotenogenesis in Streptomyces coelicolor. The introduction of litR conferred photo-dependent transcription activities on Streptomyces griseus, which does not perform photo-responsive carotenogenesis. LitR discovers homologs encoded at illumination-related loci of various non-phototrophic bacterial genomes. Probably, LitR acts not only as a transcriptional regulator but also a photosensor.