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Phase Variation of the mrp Fimbrial Promoter

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Proteus mirabilis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2021))

Abstract

Mannose-resistant Proteus-like (MR/P) fimbriae, produced by the uropathogen Proteus mirabilis, are major contributors to urinary tract infection. Expression of mrp genes is controlled by an invertible element in the mrp operon promoter, and promoter orientation is controlled by a single recombinase, MrpI, which determines whether the element is in the on or off orientation. Detailed here is a simple assay to determine the orientation of the invertible element in a population of P. mirabilis, a rapid screen to detect element-locked mrpI mutants, and quantification of mixtures of on and off bacteria.

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Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge Hui Zhao and Xin Li, who originally developed the quantitative IE protocol, and M. Chelsea Lane and Amy Simms, who refined it.

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Correspondence to Melanie M. Pearson .

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Pearson, M.M. (2019). Phase Variation of the mrp Fimbrial Promoter. In: Pearson, M. (eds) Proteus mirabilis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2021. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9601-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9601-8_12

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9600-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9601-8

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