Signal transduction and sporulation in Bacillus subtilis: autophosphorylation of Spo0A, a sporulation initiation gene product.
Spo0A is a positive/negative transcriptional regulator that plays a very important role in sporulation initiation in Bacillus subtilis. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of Spo0A is homologous to that of regulator proteins of the two-component regulatory systems involved in signal transduction in bacteria. Phosphorylation of SpooA through a phosphorelay has been reported recently. In this study, we found that Spo0A is autophosphorylated in the presence of ATP and that an autophosphorylation-deficient Spo0A mutant is completely defective in initiating sporulation. These results suggest that Spo0A autophosphorylation is an essential event in the signal transduction process that controls sporulation in B. subtilis.
Asayama
M
M
Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan.
Kobayashi
Y
Y
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006639:Histidine; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D010641:Phenotype; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; C080950:Spo0A protein, Bacillus subtilis; D014157:Transcription Factors; D006639:Histidine; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase