title: The response of Bacillus licheniformis to heat and ethanol stress and the role of the SigB regulon.
abstract: The heat and ethanol stress response of Bacillus licheniformis DSM13 was analyzed at the transcriptional and/or translational level. During heat shock, regulons known to be heat-induced in Bacillus subtilis 168 are upregulated in B. licheniformis, such as the HrcA, SigB, CtsR, and CssRS regulon. Upregulation of the SigY regulon and of genes controlled by other extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors indicates a cell-wall stress triggered by the heat shock. Furthermore, tryptophan synthesis enzymes were upregulated in heat stressed cells as well as regulons involved in usage of alternative carbon and nitrogen sources. Ethanol stress led to an induction of the SigB, HrcA, and CtsR regulons. As indicated by the upregulation of a SigM-dependent protein, ethanol also triggered a cell wall stress. To characterize the SigB regulon of B. licheniformis, we analyzed the heat stress response of a sigB mutant. It is shown that the B. licheniformis SigB regulon comprises additional genes, some of which do not exist in B. subtilis, such as BLi03885, encoding a hypothetical protein, the Na/solute symporter gene BLi02212, the arginase homolog-encoding gene BLi00198 and mcrA, encoding a protein with endonuclease activity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. birgit.voigt@uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schroeter
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jürgen
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Evers
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bongaerts
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schweder
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hecker
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D009154:Mutation; D009876:Operon; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D018085:Regulon; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D020543:Proteome; C079011:SigB protein, Bacteria; D012808:Sigma Factor; D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Bacillus licheniformis; Ethanol stress; Heat stress; Microbiology; Transcriptome; sigB mutant