title: kinC/D-mediated heterogeneous expression of spo0A during logarithmical growth in Bacillus subtilis is responsible for partial suppression of phi 29 development.
abstract: The host of the lytic bacteriophage phi 29 is the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis. When infection occurs during early stages of sporulation, however, phi 29 development is suppressed and the infecting phage genome becomes trapped into the developing spore. Recently, we have shown that Spo0A, the key transcriptional regulator for entry into sporulation, is directly responsible for suppression of the lytic phi 29 cycle in cells having initiated sporulation. Surprisingly, we found that phi 29 development is suppressed in a subpopulation of logarithmically growing culture and that spo0A is heterogeneously expressed during this growth stage. Furthermore, we showed that kinC and, to a minor extent, kinD, are responsible for heterogeneous expression levels of spo0A during logarithmical growth that are below the threshold to activate sporulation, but sufficient for suppression of the lytic cycle of phi 29. Whereas spo0A was known to be heterogeneously expressed during the early stages of sporulation, our findings show that this also occurs during logarithmical growth. These insights are likely to have important consequences, not only for the life cycle of phi 29, but also for B. subtilis developmental processes.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Molecular Eladio Viñuela (CSIC), Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Castilla-Llorente
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salas
authors.forename: Wilfried J J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Meijer
mesh_terms: D017103:Bacillus Phages / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001665:Binding Sites; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016679:Genome, Viral; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D009154:Mutation; D011485:Protein Binding; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C080950:Spo0A protein, Bacillus subtilis; D014157:Transcription Factors; D011494:Protein Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase