Project description:Because of their ubiquity and resistance to spacecraft decontamination, bacterial spores are considered likely potential forward contaminants on robotic missions to Mars. Thus it is important to understand their global responses to long-term exposure to space or Mars environments. As part of the PROTECT experiment, spores of B. subtilis 168 were exposed to real space conditions and to simulated martian conditions for 559 days in low Earth orbit mounted on the EXPOSE-E exposure platform outside the European Columbus module on the International Space Station. Upon return, spores were germinated, total RNA extracted and fluorescently labeled, and used to probe a custom Bacillus subtilis microarray to identify genes preferentially activated or repressed relative to ground control spores. Increased transcript levels were detected for a number of stress-related regulons responding to DNA damage (SOS response, SPβ prophage induction), protein damage (CtsR/Clp system), oxidative stress (PerR regulon) and cell envelope stress (SigV regulon). Spores exposed to space demonstrated a much broader and more severe stress response than spores exposed to simulated Mars conditions. The results are discussed in the context of planetary protection for a hypothetical journey of potential forward contaminant spores from Earth to Mars and their subsequent residence on Mars. Two-color microarrays were performed comparing germination of Space-exposed or Mars-exposed vs. ground-control (Earth) spores.
Project description:Because of their ubiquity and resistance to spacecraft decontamination, bacterial spores are considered likely potential forward contaminants on robotic missions to Mars. Thus it is important to understand their global responses to long-term exposure to space or Mars environments. As part of the PROTECT experiment, spores of B. subtilis 168 were exposed to real space conditions and to simulated martian conditions for 559 days in low Earth orbit mounted on the EXPOSE-E exposure platform outside the European Columbus module on the International Space Station. Upon return, spores were germinated, total RNA extracted and fluorescently labeled, and used to probe a custom Bacillus subtilis microarray to identify genes preferentially activated or repressed relative to ground control spores. Increased transcript levels were detected for a number of stress-related regulons responding to DNA damage (SOS response, SPβ prophage induction), protein damage (CtsR/Clp system), oxidative stress (PerR regulon) and cell envelope stress (SigV regulon). Spores exposed to space demonstrated a much broader and more severe stress response than spores exposed to simulated Mars conditions. The results are discussed in the context of planetary protection for a hypothetical journey of potential forward contaminant spores from Earth to Mars and their subsequent residence on Mars.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in sporulating Bacillus subtilis 168 delta-prpE mutant, compared to the wild-type strain. The mutation engineered into this strain results in impaired germination of spores.
Project description:In this work we present proteomic analysis of Bacillus subtilis 168 trp+ (BSB1) during germination and spore outgrowth. Samples were collected from 14 different time points (from 0 to130 minutes) after inoculation of spores into germination medium. In summary, 2,195 proteins were identified and clustered according to their expression kinetics. Results revealed five specific clusters that were functionally analyzed.
Project description:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in sporulating Bacillus subtilis 168 delta-prpE mutant, compared to the wild-type strain. The mutation engineered into this strain results in impaired germination of spores. A six chip study using total RNA extracted from three separate wild-type cultures of sporulating Bacillus subtilis 168 and three separate cultures of sporulating mutant strain, Bacillus subtilis 168 delta-prpE, in which prpE (yjbP BSU11630) gene coding for a protein phosphatase is deleted entirely. Each chip consists of four fields able to measure the expression level of 4,104 genes from Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis strain 168 NC_000964 with eight 60-mer probe pairs (PM/MM) per gene, with two-fold technical redundancy.
Project description:Bacterial endospores (spores) are among the most resistant living forms on earth. Spores of Bacillus subtilis A163 show extremely high resistance to wet heat compared to spores of laboratory strains. In this study, we found that spores of B. subtilis A163 were indeed very wet heat resistant and released dipicolinic acid (DPA) very slowly during heat treatment. We also determined the proteome of vegetative cells and spores of B. subtilis A163 and the differences in these proteomes from those of the laboratory strain PY79, spores of which are much less heat resistant. This proteomic characterization identified 2011 proteins in spores and 1901 proteins in vegetative cells of B. subtilis A163.
Project description:Transcriptional response of Bacillus subtilis to moenomycin in wild-type 168. Bacillus subtilis 168, WT (-MOE) vs. WT (+MOE). The experiment was conducted in triplicate using three independent total RNA preparations. Untreated samples were labeled with Alexa Fluor 555 and moenomycin treated samples were labeled with Alexa Fluor 647.
Project description:Identification of the specific WalR (YycF) binding regions on the B. subtilis chromosome during exponential and phosphate starvation growth phases. The data serves to extend the WalRK regulon in Bacillus subtilis and its role in cell wall metabolism, as well as implying a role in several other cellular processes.
Project description:The gene expression of Bacillus subtilis 168 showed 3 major patterns including early expression, transition expression and late expression We monitored Bacillus subtilis gene expression by using microarray at differernt time points