title: Dimer form of phosphorylated Spo0A, a transcriptional regulator, stimulates the spo0F transcription at the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: The Spo0A protein of Bacillus subtilis is a transcriptional regulator that shows extensive homology to the regulator proteins in bacterial two-component regulatory systems. Phosphorylation of Spo0A is absolutely necessary for the initiation of sporulation. We now show that phospho-Spo0A is a dimer, binds specifically to the spo0F promoter region, and stimulates the transcription from the P2 promoter recognized by sigma H-RNA polymerase. Biochemical and biological analyses suggest that phospho-Spo0A interacts directly with the "0A-like box" sequence (TGTCGTA) located in the spo0F promoter region. Phosphorylation of Spo0A enhanced its affinity to the 0A-like box. Evidence is also presented that the spo0F promoter region contains a static bend having two sets of oligo(dA-dT) tracts. It was demonstrated that the bending region overlaps with the recognition site for the phospho-Spo0A.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asayama
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013171:Spores, Bacterial; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C080950:Spo0A protein, Bacillus subtilis; C080951:Spo0F protein, Bacillus subtilis; D014157:Transcription Factors