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Published Online June 8, 2006
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1128794

Reports

Submitted on April 17, 2006
Accepted on May 30, 2006

Selective Silencing of Foreign DNA with Low GC Content by the H-NS Protein in Salmonella

William Wiley Navarre 1, Steffen Porwollik 2, Yipeng Wang 2, Michael McClelland 2, Henry Rosen 3, Stephen J. Libby 1, Ferric C. Fang 4*

1 Department of Laboratory Medicine
2 Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San Diego, CA 92121 USA.
3 Department of Medicine
4 Department of Laboratory Medicine; Department of Medicine; Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Ferric C. Fang , E-mail: fcfang{at}u.washington.edu.

Horizontal gene transfer plays a major role in microbial evolution. However, newly acquired sequences can decrease fitness unless integrated into pre-existing regulatory networks. We find that the nucleoid protein H-NS selectively silences horizontally-acquired genes by targeting sequences with GC content lower than the resident genome. Mutations in hns are lethal in Salmonella unless accompanied by compensatory mutations in other regulatory loci. Thus H-NS provides a novel mechanism of bacterial defense against foreign DNA, enabling the acquisition of DNA from exogenous sources while avoiding detrimental consequences from unregulated expression of newly acquired genes. Characteristic GC/AT ratios of bacterial genomes may facilitate discrimination between "self" and foreign DNA.


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