Acyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Regulates Transcription of Fatty Acid Biosynthetic Genes via the FabT Repressor in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Long-chain acyl-acyl carrier proteins (acyl-ACP) are established biochemical regulators of bacterial type II fatty acid synthases due to their ability to feedback-inhibit the early steps in the biosynthetic pathway. In Streptococcus pneumoniae, the expression of the fatty acid synthase (fab) genes is controlled by a helix-turn-helix transcriptional repressor called FabT. A screen of pathway intermediates identified acyl-ACP as a ligand that increased the affinity of FabT for DNA. FabT bound to a wide range of acyl-ACP chain lengths in the absence of DNA, but only the long-chain acyl-ACPs increase the affinity of FabT for DNA. FabT affinity for DNA increased with increasing acyl-ACP chain length with cis-vaccenoyl-ACP being the most effective ligand. Thus, FabT is a new ACP-interacting partner that acts as a transcriptional rheostat to fine tune the expression of the fab genes based on the demand for fatty acids.