title: A widely conserved gene cluster required for lactate utilization in Bacillus subtilis and its involvement in biofilm formation.
abstract: We report that catabolism of l-lactate in Bacillus subtilis depends on the previously uncharacterized yvfV-yvfW-yvbY (herein renamed lutABC) operon, which is inferred to encode three iron-sulfur-containing proteins. The operon is under the dual control of a GntR-type repressor (LutR, formerly YvfI) and the master regulator for biofilm formation SinR and is induced during growth in response to l-lactate. Operons with high similarity to lutABC are present in the genomes of a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, raising the possibility that LutABC is a widely conserved and previously unrecognized pathway for the utilization of l-lactate or related metabolites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Losick@mcb.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Yunrong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kolter
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Losick
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics*; D005810:Multigene Family; D009876:Operon
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D019344:Lactic Acid