title: The TRAP-like SplA protein is a trans-acting negative regulator of spore photoproduct lyase synthesis during Bacillus subtilis sporulation.
abstract: UV resistance of bacterial endospores derives from a unique DNA photochemistry in which the major UV photoproduct is the thymine dimer 5-thyminyl-5,6-dihydrothymine (spore photoproduct [SP]) instead of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers. Repair of SP during spore germination is due in large part to the activity of the enzyme SP lyase encoded by splB, the second cistron of the splAB operon. Expression of the splAB operon in Bacillus subtilis is transcriptionally activated by the Esigma(G) form of RNA polymerase during morphological stage III in the developing forespore compartment, and SP lyase is packaged into the dormant spore. In addition to temporal and compartmental control of splAB expression, a second regulatory circuit which modulates the level of expression of splB-lacZ fusions without altering their developmental timing or compartmentalization is reported here. This second regulatory circuit involves the negative action of the splA gene product, a 79-amino-acid protein with approximately 50% similarity and 17% identity to TRAP, the tryptophan RNA-binding attenuation protein from B. subtilis and Bacillus pumilus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fajardo-Cavazos
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Nicholson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004260:DNA Repair; D004255:Deoxyribodipyrimidine Photo-Lyase / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D019281:Dimerization; D007763:Lac Operon; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011506:Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013171:Spores, Bacterial; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C079092:MtrB protein, Bacteria; D011506:Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C102073:SplA protein, Dictyostelium discoideum; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C088014:spore photoproduct lyase; D004255:Deoxyribodipyrimidine Photo-Lyase