title: Identification and characterization of the Bacillus subtilis D-glucarate/galactarate utilization operon ycbCDEFGHJ.
abstract: In the course of the Bacillus subtilis functional genomics project, an open reading frame called ycbG whose product is classified as a transcriptional regulatory protein with a helix-turn-helix motif in the putative D-glucarate/galactarate utilization operon (ycbCDEFGHJ) was initially screened as the gene disruptant that exhibits a defect that blocked the early stage of sporulation. However, the transcription of ycbCDEFG was extremely highly induced in response to nutrient exhaustion by the disruption of ycbG, but inactivation of the transcription from upstream ycbC in the ycbG mutant restored the sporulation efficiency, suggesting that the inappropriate over-production of the ycbCDEFG gene products inhibits efficient sporulation. We further analyzed the role of the ycbCDEFGHJ cluster and found that (i) a unit of ycbCDEFGHJ was induced by either D-glucarate or D-galactarate, and (ii) the cell growth was inhibited by the mutation of the ycbF and ycbH genes, that respectively encode the putative proteins, D-glucarate dehydratase and D-galactarate dehydratase on plates supplemented with D-glucarate and D-galactarate, respectively, as the sole carbon source. Our results indicate that the ycbCDEFGHJ genes are involved in the utilization of D-glucarate and D-galactarate in B. subtilis.
authors.affiliation: International Environmental and Agricultural Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8 Saiwai-cho, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hosoya
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamane
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D004790:Enzyme Induction; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005937:Glucaric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D005988:Glyceric Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009876:Operon / Q000235:genetics*; D013400:Sugar Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D005988:Glyceric Acids; D013400:Sugar Acids; C042971:glyceric acid; C000090:galactaric acid; D005937:Glucaric Acid