title: Bacillus subtilis alpha-phosphoglucomutase is required for normal cell morphology and biofilm formation.
abstract: Mutations designated gtaC and gtaE that affect alpha-phosphoglucomutase activity required for interconversion of glucose 6-phosphate and alpha-glucose 1-phosphate were mapped to the Bacillus subtilis pgcA (yhxB) gene. Backcrossing of the two mutations into the 168 reference strain was accompanied by impaired alpha-phosphoglucomutase activity in the soluble cell extract fraction, altered colony and cell morphology, and resistance to phages phi29 and rho11. Altered cell morphology, reversible by additional magnesium ions, may be correlated with a deficiency in the membrane glycolipid. The deficiency in biofilm formation in gtaC and gtaE mutants may be attributed to an inability to synthesize UDP-glucose, an important intermediate in a number of cell envelope biosynthetic processes.
authors.affiliation: Département de Microbiologie Fondamentale, Batiment de Biologie, Faculté de Biologie et de Médecine, Université de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. vladimir.lazarevic@imf.unil.ch
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lazarevic
authors.forename: Blazenka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Soldo
authors.forename: Noël
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Médico
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pooley
authors.forename: Sierd
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bron
authors.forename: Dimitri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karamata
mesh_terms: D017103:Bacillus Phages / Q000502:physiology; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005958:Glucosephosphates / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005958:Glucosephosphates; C031590:glucose-1-phosphate; D010733:Phosphoglucomutase