Regulators of oxidative stress response genes in Escherichia coli and their functional conservation in bacteria

► Major oxidative stress regulators in Escherichia coli are OxyR, SoxRS, and RpoS. ► OxyR and SoxRS regulons are expressed after activation of regulators by ROS. ► Functional conservation of OxyR is evident from Proteobacteria to Actinobacteria. ► SoxRS and RpoS are functionally conserved in Proteobacteria. ► Other oxidative stress regulators include Fur, NorR, and IscR.