title: Genes involved in immunity to the lantibiotic nisin produced by Lactococcus lactis 6F3.
abstract: The lantibiotic nisin is produced by several strains of Lactococcus lactis. The complete gene cluster for nisin biosynthesis in L. lactis 6F3 comprises 15 kb of DNA. As described previously, the structural gene nisA is followed by the genes nisB, nisT, nisC, nisI, nisP, nisR, and nisK. Further analysis revealed three additional open reading frames, nisF, nisE, and nisG, adjacent to nisK. Approximately 1 kb downstream of the nisG gene, three open reading frames in the opposite orientation have been identified. One of the reading frames, sacR, belongs to the sucrose operon, indicating that all genes belonging to the nisin gene cluster of L. lactis 6F3 have now been identified. Proteins NisF and NisE show strong homology to members of the family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and nisG encodes a hydrophobic protein which might act similarly to the immunity proteins described for several colicins. Gene disruption mutants carrying mutations in the genes nisF, nisE, and nisG were still able to produce nisin. However, in comparison with the wild-type strain, these mutants were more sensitive to nisin. This indicates that besides nisI the newly identified genes are also involved in immunity to nisin. The NisF-NisE ABC transporter is homologous to an ABC transporter of Bacillus subtilis and the MbcF-MbcE transporter of Escherichia coli, which are involved in immunity to subtilin and microcin B17, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Siegers
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Entian
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D013294:Lactococcus lactis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology; D009561:Nisin / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C093080:NisE protein, Lactococcus lactis; C093081:NisF protein, Lactococcus lactis; C093082:nisG protein, Lactococcus lactis; D009561:Nisin