title: Regulated DNA rearrangement during sporulation in Bacillus weihenstephanensis KBAB4.
abstract: Temperate phages can integrate their genomes into a specific region of a host chromosome to produce lysogens (prophage). During genome insertion, prophages may interrupt the gene coding sequence. In Bacillus subtilis, the sigma factor gene sigK is interrupted by a 48 kb prophage-like element. sigK is a composite coding sequence from two partial genes during sporulation. For over two decades, however, no further examples of DNA element-mediated gene reconstitution other than sigK have been identified in spore formers. Here we report that the gene for dipicolinic acid (DPA) synthetase β subunit spoVFB in B. weihenstephanensis KBAB4 is interrupted by a prophage-like element named vfbin. DPA is synthesized in the mother cell and required for maintaining spore dormancy. We found that spoVFB was a composite coding sequence generated in the mother cell via chromosomal rearrangement that excised vfbin. Furthermore, vfbin caused excision after phage-inducer treatment, but vfbin appeared to be defective as a prophage. We also found various spore-forming bacteria in which sporulation-related genes were disrupted by prophage-like DNA elements. These results demonstrate the first example of a similar mechanism that affects a sporulation gene other than sigK and suggest that this prophage-mediated DNA rearrangement is a common phenomenon in spore-forming bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Micro-Nano Technology, Hosei University, Koganei, 184-0003, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimihiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshinari
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoyagi
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirota
authors.forename: Keito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D056506:Geobacillus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010088:Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D039002:Prophages / Q000235:genetics*; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012808:Sigma Factor; C030069:spore-specific proteins, Bacillus; D010088:Oxidoreductases