Transcription factor MrpC binds to promoter regions of hundreds of developmentally-regulated genes in Myxococcus xanthus

Table 4 Functional categories of genes associated with putative MrpC binding sites and the statistical significance of the categorical distributions relative to the whole genome

Functional category^a	Genome-wide	Putative MrpC sites	Expected^b	P-value^c
Amino acid biosynthesis	74	11	14	0.69
Biosynthesis of cofactors, prosthetic groups, and carriers	115	20	22	0.88
Cell envelope	699	140	132	0.66
Cellular processes	249	52	47	0.68
Central intermediary metabolism	52	12	10	0.83
Disrupted reading frames	49	0	9	0.002
Disrupted reading frames: Mobile and extrachromosomal element functions	4	0	1	1.00
DNA metabolism	102	17	19	0.87
Energy metabolism	320	67	60	0.59
Fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism	134	15	25	0.15
Hypothetical proteins	2812	552	531	0.44
Mobile and extrachromosomal element functions	90	9	17	0.17
Protein fate	296	65	56	0.46
Protein synthesis	162	29	31	0.90
Purines, pyrimidines, nucleosides, and nucleotides	58	6	11	0.33
Regulatory functions	286	66	54	0.30
Signal transduction	259	62	49	0.25
Transcription	99	28	19	0.24
Transport and binding proteins	404	59	76	0.16
Unknown function	1115	183	210	0.15
Total	7379	1393	1393

^aFunctional categories were assigned by the J. Craig Venter Institute and amended as described previously [57].
^bThe number expected was calculated by multiplying the number of genes in a functional category genome-wide by the ratio of putative MrpC binding sites near (i.e., between -400 and +100) the predicted start codon of a gene (i.e., 1393) to the total number of genes in the genome that have been assigned a functional category (i.e., 7379) [57].
^cThe P-value associated with the difference between the number of putative MrpC sites observed versus the number expected was calculated using Fisher’s exact test [56].

ISSN: 1471-2164