Figure 1

An overview of the regulatory network of the arabinose utilization system in E. coli. (a). NAR motif with transcription factor X that regulates its own production, and also regulates the production of gene Z (Z often represents several different downstream promoters). (b) The araBAD genes are regulated by AraC which is negatively auto-regulated. (c) NAR in this study was disrupted by decoupling araC from its native regulation. (d) The araC\araBAD divergent promoter structure. Colorless boxes are genes and colored boxes are the transcription factors' binding sites: red- repressor; green- activator; brown- dual regulator (based on Ecocyc [50, 51], see text for details). (e) The arabinose system is a complex regulatory network in which NAR is only one of many interaction arrows, in which transporters and enzymes modify the intracellular arabinose levels, which in turn acts to repress and activate the pumps and enzymes genes (see text for details).