The discriminator sequence is a primary determinant in the supercoiling response of bacterial promoters

DNA supercoiling acts as a global transcriptional regulator, which contributes to the rapid transcriptional response of bacteria to many environmental changes. Although a large fraction of promoters from distant species respond to superhelical variations, the sequence or structural determinants of this behaviour remain elusive. Here, we propose the sequence of the “discriminator” element located downstream of the −10 hexamer to play an important role in this response, by modulating the facility of open-complex formation during transcription initiation. We develop a quantitative model of this regulatory mechanism relying on known parameters of DNA thermodynamics, and show that its predictions quantitatively match the in vitro and in vivo supercoiling response of stable RNA promoters previously measured, as well as the in vivo response of selected mRNA promoters with mutated discriminator sequences. We then test the universality of this mechanism by statistical analysis of promoter sequences in transcriptomes of phylogenetically distant bacteria under conditions of supercoiling variations, (1) by gyrase inhibitors, (2) by environmental stresses, (3) inherited in the longest-running evolution experiment. In all cases, we identify a robust and significant sequence signature in the discriminator region, suggesting that promoter opening underpins an ubiquitous regulatory mechanism in the prokaryotic kingdom, based on the fundamental mechanical properties of DNA.