Dataset Information

SpoVT: From Fine-Tuning Regulator in Bacillus subtilis to Essential Sporulation Protein in Bacillus cereus.

ABSTRACT: Sporulation is a highly sophisticated developmental process adopted by most Bacilli as a survival strategy to withstand extreme conditions that normally do not support microbial growth. A complicated regulatory cascade, divided into various stages and taking place in two different compartments of the cell, involves a number of primary and secondary regulator proteins that drive gene expression directed toward the formation and maturation of an endospore. Such regulator proteins are highly conserved among various spore formers. Despite this conservation, both regulatory and phenotypic differences are observed between different species of spore forming bacteria. In this study, we demonstrate that deletion of the regulatory sporulation protein SpoVT results in a severe sporulation defect in Bacillus cereus, whereas this is not observed in Bacillus subtilis. Although spores are initially formed, the process is stalled at a later stage in development, followed by lysis of the forespore and the mother cell. A transcriptomic investigation of B. cereus ?spoVT shows upregulation of genes involved in germination, potentially leading to premature lysis of prespores formed. Additionally, extreme variation in the expression of species-specific genes of unknown function was observed. Introduction of the B. subtilis SpoVT protein could partly restore the sporulation defect in the B. cereus spoVT mutant strain. The difference in phenotype is thus more than likely explained by differences in promoter targets rather than differences in mode of action of the conserved SpoVT regulator protein. This study stresses that evolutionary variances in regulon members of sporulation regulators can have profound effects on the spore developmental process and that mere protein homology is not a foolproof predictor of similar phenotypes.

SUBMITTER: Eijlander RT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5061766 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

SpoVT: From Fine-Tuning Regulator in <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> to Essential Sporulation Protein in <i>Bacillus cereus</i>.

Eijlander Robyn T RT Holsappel Siger S de Jong Anne A Ghosh Abhinaba A Christie Graham G Kuipers Oscar P OP

Frontiers in microbiology 20161013

Sporulation is a highly sophisticated developmental process adopted by most Bacilli as a survival strategy to withstand extreme conditions that normally do not support microbial growth. A complicated regulatory cascade, divided into various stages and taking place in two different compartments of the cell, involves a number of primary and secondary regulator proteins that drive gene expression directed toward the formation and maturation of an endospore. Such regulator proteins are highly conser ...[more]

PMID: 27790204

Similar Datasets

Project description:In microbial communities, bacteria chemically and physically interact with one another. Some of these interactions are mediated by secreted specialized metabolites that act as either intraspecies or interspecies signals to alter gene expression and to change cell physiology. Bacillus subtilis is a well-characterized soil microbe that can differentiate into multiple cell types, including metabolically dormant endospores. We were interested in identifying microbial interactions that affected sporulation in B. subtilis Using a fluorescent transcriptional reporter, we observed that coculturing B. subtilis with Escherichia coli promoted sporulation gene expression via a secreted metabolite. To identify the active compound, we screened the E. coli Keio Collection and identified the sporulation-accelerating cue as the siderophore enterobactin. B. subtilis has multiple iron acquisition systems that are used to take up the B. subtilis-produced siderophore bacillibactin, as well as to pirate exogenous siderophores such as enterobactin. While B. subtilis uses a single substrate binding protein (FeuA) to take up both bacillibactin and enterobactin, we discovered that it requires two distinct genes to sporulate in response to these siderophores (the esterase gene besA for bacillibactin and a putative esterase gene, ybbA, for enterobactin). In addition, we found that siderophores from a variety of other microbial species also promote sporulation in B. subtilis Our results thus demonstrate that siderophores can act not only as bacterial iron acquisition systems but also as interspecies cues that alter cellular development and accelerate sporulation in B. subtilisIMPORTANCE While much is known about the genetic regulation of Bacillus subtilis sporulation, little is understood about how other bacteria influence this process. This work describes an interaction between Escherichia coli and B. subtilis that accelerates sporulation in B. subtilis The interaction is mediated by the E. coli siderophore enterobactin; we show that other species' siderophores also promote sporulation gene expression in B. subtilis These results suggest that siderophores not only may supply bacteria with the mineral nutrient iron but also may play a role in bacterial interspecies signaling, providing a cue for sporulation. Siderophores are produced by many bacterial species and thus potentially play important roles in altering bacterial cell physiology in diverse environments.

Dataset Information

SpoVT: From Fine-Tuning Regulator in Bacillus subtilis to Essential Sporulation Protein in Bacillus cereus.

Publications

SpoVT: From Fine-Tuning Regulator in <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> to Essential Sporulation Protein in <i>Bacillus cereus</i>.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets