Systems-Level Analysis of the Global Regulatory Mechanism of CodY in Lactococcus lactis Metabolism and Nisin Immunity Modulation

Bacteria adapt to the constantly changing environment by regulating their metabolism. The global transcriptional regulator CodY is known to regulate metabolism in low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria. Systems-level identification of its direct targets by proteome and chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) assays have rarely been reported. Here, we identified that CodY serves as an activator or a repressor of hundreds of genes involved in nitrogen metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and transcription through iTRAQ proteome and ChIP-seq. Combined with the electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), apart from the genes associated with amino acid biosynthesis ( , , , , , and ), genes involved in cell wall synthesis ( and ) and nisin immunity ( ) were identified as being regulated by CodY. Moreover, it was demonstrated by nisin resistance assay that CodY activated the transcription of and contributed to nisin immunity. Intriguingly, CodY showed a self-regulation through binding to the motif AAAGGTGTGACAACT in the coding sequence (CDS) region of , as verified by DNase I footprinting assay and MEME analysis. In addition, a novel conserved AT-rich motif, AATWTTCTGACAATT, was obtained in L. lactis F44. This study provides new insights into the comprehensive CodY regulation in L. lactis by controlling metabolism, nisin immunity, and self-expression. Lactococcus lactis, a species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) widely used in food fermentation, has been the model strain in genetic engineering, and its application has extended from food to microbial cell factories. CodY is a global regulator in low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria. Its function and direct target genes at the genome-level are little known in L. lactis. In this study, we describe the comprehensive regulation mechanism of CodY. It widely modulated the metabolism of nitrogen and carbohydrate, cell wall synthesis, and nisin immunity in L. lactis F44, and its expression level was regulated by feedback control.