A Serine Sensor for Multicellularity in a Bacterium
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: We report the discovery of a simple environmental sensing mechanism for biofilm formation in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis that operates without the involvement of a dedicated RNA or protein. Certain serine codons, the four UCN codons, in the gene for the biofilm repressor SinR caused a lowering of SinR levels under biofilm-inducing conditions. Synonymous substitutions of these UCN codons with AGC or AGU impaired biofilm formation and gene expression. Conversely, switching AGC or AGU to UCN codons upregulated biofilm formation. Genome-wide ribosome profiling showed that ribosomes paused longer at UCN codons than at AGC or AGU during biofilm formation. Serine starvation recapitulated the effect of biofilm-inducing conditions on ribosome pausing and SinR production. As serine is one of the first amino acids to be exhausted at the end of exponential phase growth, ribosome pausing at serine codons may be exploited by other microbes in adapting to stationary phase. 4 samples for ribosome profiling and 2 samples for total mRNA profiling
ORGANISM(S): Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis str. NCIB 3610
SUBMITTER: Arvind Subramaniam
PROVIDER: E-GEOD-50870 | biostudies-arrayexpress |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress
ACCESS DATA