title: Differential gene expression during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis: structure and regulation of the spoIIID gene.
abstract: The gene spoIIID, which is essential for spore formation in Bacillus subtilis, was cloned and sequenced. It consists of one open reading frame which would encode a 93-amino-acid protein with a classic helix-turn-helix motif, characteristic of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins. SpoIIID protein is a previously identified transcription factor, capable of altering the specificity of RNA polymerase containing sigma K in vitro (Kroos et al., 1989). The spoIIID83 mutation (by which the locus was originally identified), was sequenced and found to be a single base substitution in the ribosome binding site upstream of the spoIIID open reading frame. A transcriptional fusion to lacZ was constructed and used to examine the regulation of spoIIID. Expression of spoIIID occurred only during sporulation, beginning 1.5 to 2 hours after the initiation of sporulation. The dependence of spoIIID expression on other spo loci suggests that it is mother-cell-specific, and that it is transcribed by sigma E-containing RNA polymerase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Errington
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D007763:Lac Operon; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012808:Sigma Factor; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases