title: Sporulation of a bacitracin-sensitive mutant of Bacillus licheniformis is self-inhibited by bacitracin.
abstract: A mutant of Bacillus licheniformis (BLU166) sensitive to its own antibiotic bacitracin was isolated and the mutation bcr-l was mapped close to the bacitracin synthetase genes. The sensitivity was shown to be specific for bacitracin. Two further bacitracin-sensitive strains were constructed, one (BLU171) with normal ability to synthesize bacitracin, and one (BLU170) a bacitracin non-producer. In addition to an increased sensitivity of growing cells to bacitracin, sporulation of the mutant strain BLU171 was self-inhibited by bacitracin. It is concluded that (1) there might exist at least two levels of resistance to bacitracin; (2) mutation bcr-1 affects a 'structural' component, which may protect the sensitive reaction of cell-wall biosynthesis; (3) sporulation is affected to a greater extent by bacitracin than vegetative growth; and (4) synthesis of bacitracin is independent of the presence of this resistance mechanism since the sensitive mutant produces similar amounts of the antibiotic to the wild-type strain.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Molecular Genetics, University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Podlesek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grabnar
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D001414:Bacitracin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D009154:Mutation; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001414:Bacitracin