title: The YmdB phosphodiesterase is a global regulator of late adaptive responses in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: Bacillus subtilis mutants lacking ymdB are unable to form biofilms, exhibit a strong overexpression of the flagellin gene hag, and are deficient in SlrR, a SinR antagonist. Here, we report the functional and structural characterization of YmdB, and we find that YmdB is a phosphodiesterase with activity against 2',3'- and 3',5'-cyclic nucleotide monophosphates. The structure of YmdB reveals that the enzyme adopts a conserved phosphodiesterase fold with a binuclear metal center. Mutagenesis of a catalytically crucial residue demonstrates that the enzymatic activity of YmdB is essential for biofilm formation. The deletion of ymdB affects the expression of more than 800 genes; the levels of the σ(D)-dependent motility regulon and several sporulation genes are increased, and the levels of the SinR-repressed biofilm genes are decreased, confirming the role of YmdB in regulating late adaptive responses of B. subtilis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Microbiology, Georg August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Diethmaier
authors.forename: Joseph A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Akos T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: Volkhard
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kaever
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herzberg
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boonstra
authors.forename: Oscar P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Kuipers
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stülke
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases