Repression ofAcinetobactervanillate demethylase synthesis by VanR, a member of the GntR family of transcriptional regulators

Vanillate is converted to protocatechuate by the action of vanillate demethylase encoded by vanAB. Convergent upon and overlapping Acinetobacter vanB is an open reading frame encoding a member of the gntR repressor family and designated vanR. This gene organization differs from that found in a Pseudomonas isolate. An Acinetobacter strain with a knockout mutation in vanR constitutively converted vanillate to protocatechuate. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was used to demonstrate that control of vanAB was exerted at the level of transcription.