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The cisA cistron of Bacillus subtilis sporulation gene spoIVC encodes a protein homologous to a site-specific recombinase.

ABSTRACT: The nucleotide sequence of the sporulation gene spoIVC cisA in Bacillus subtilis was determined and found to encode a protein of 500 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 57,481, which is in good agreement with the size of the gene product estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The amino acid sequence of the N-terminal region of this protein is homologous to the site-specific DNA recombinases. Hybridization of a 3.6-kilobase EcoRI fragment carrying the spoIVC cisA gene with the EcoRI-restricted chromosomal DNA prepared from cells of various stages showed that DNA rearrangement occurs only in the mother cell in the region adjacent to spoIVC cisA 3 h after the initiation of sporulation. This result coincides with that of Stragier et al. (P. Stragier, B. Kunkel, L. Kroos, and R. Losick, Science 243:507-512, 1989). The timing of the DNA rearrangement coincides very well with the timing of spoIVC cisA gene expression. The DNA rearrangement was not observed in spoIVC cisA mutants. These results strongly suggest that the spoIVC cisA gene encodes a site-specific DNA recombinase having a very important role in sporulation.

SUBMITTER: Sato T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC208541 | biostudies-other | 1990 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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The cisA cistron of Bacillus subtilis sporulation gene spoIVC encodes a protein homologous to a site-specific recombinase.

Sato T T Samori Y Y Kobayashi Y Y

Journal of bacteriology 19900201 2

The nucleotide sequence of the sporulation gene spoIVC cisA in Bacillus subtilis was determined and found to encode a protein of 500 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular weight of 57,481, which is in good agreement with the size of the gene product estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The amino acid sequence of the N-terminal region of this protein is homologous to the site-specific DNA recombinases. Hybridization of a 3.6-kilobase EcoRI fragment car ...[more]

PMID: 2105293

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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

The cisA cistron of Bacillus subtilis sporulation gene spoIVC encodes a protein homologous to a site-specific recombinase.

Publications

The cisA cistron of Bacillus subtilis sporulation gene spoIVC encodes a protein homologous to a site-specific recombinase.

Similar Datasets

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