Regulation of the sacPA operon of Bacillus subtilis: identification of phosphotransferase system components involved in SacT activity.
The sacT gene which controls the sacPA operon of Bacillus subtilis encodes a polypeptide homologous to the B. subtilis SacY and the Escherichia coli BglG antiterminators. Expression of the sacT gene is shown to be constitutive. The DNA sequence upstream from sacP contains a palindromic sequence which functions as a transcriptional terminator. We have previously proposed that SacT acts as a transcriptional antiterminator, allowing transcription of the sacPA operon. In strains containing mutations inactivating ptsH or ptsI, the expression of sacPA and sacB is constitutive. In this work, we show that this constitutivity is due to a fully active SacY antiterminator. In the wild-type sacT+ strain or in the sacT30 mutant, SacT requires both enzyme I and HPr of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) for antitermination. It appears that the PTS exerts different effects on the sacB gene and the sacPA operon. The general proteins of the PTS are not required for the activity of SacY while they are necessary for SacT activity.
Arnaud
M
M
Laboratoire de Biochimie Microbienne, Institute Pasteur, URA 1300, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.
Vary
P
P
Zagorec
M
M
Klier
A
A
Debarbouille
M
M
Postma
P
P
Rapoport
G
G
D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005809:Genes, Regulator / Q000235:genetics*; D007763:Lac Operon / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics*; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System / Q000235:genetics*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013728:Terminator Regions, Genetic; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000032:analysis
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C064872:antiterminator proteins, Bacteria; D010731:Phosphoenolpyruvate Sugar Phosphotransferase System; D001616:beta-Galactosidase