title: A proteomic view of cell physiology of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis.
abstract: Bacillus licheniformis is known for its high protein secretion capacity and is being applied extensively as a host for the industrial production of enzymes such as proteases and amylases. In its natural environment as well as in fermentation processes the bacterium is often facing adverse conditions such as oxidative or osmotic stress or starvation for nutrients. During the last years detailed proteome and transcriptome analyses have been performed to study the adaptation of B. licheniformis cells to various stresses (heat, ethanol, oxidative or salt stress) and starvation conditions (glucose, nitrogen or phosphate starvation). A common feature of the response to all tested conditions is the downregulation of many genes encoding house-keeping proteins and, consequently, a reduced synthesis of the corresponding proteins. Induction of the general stress response (σ(B) regulon) is only observed in cells subjected to heat, ethanol or salt stress. This paper summarizes our current knowledge on general and specific stress and starvation responses of this important industrial bacterium. The importance of selected marker genes and proteins for the monitoring and optimization of B. licheniformis based fermentation processes is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-L.-Jahn-Str. 15, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: birgit.voigt@uni-greifswald.de.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-Hausdorff-Str. 3, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: rebeccaschroeter@googlemail.com.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schroeter
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-Hausdorff-Str. 3, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: schweder@uni-greifswald.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schweder
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-Hausdorff-Str. 3, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: britta.juergen@uni-greifswald.de.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jürgen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-L.-Jahn-Str. 15, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: dirkalbr@uni-greifswald.de.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albrecht
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, HPC EB80, PO Box 30001, Groningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.m.van.dijl01@umcg.nl.
authors.forename: Jan Maarten
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: van Dijl
authors.affiliation: AB Enzymes GmbH, Feldbergstr. 78, Darmstadt, Germany. Electronic address: karl-heinz.maurer@abenzymes.com.
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, F.-L.-Jahn-Str. 15, Greifswald, Germany. Electronic address: hecker@uni-greifswald.de.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hecker
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005285:Fermentation; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D020543:Proteome; D040901:Proteomics; D018085:Regulon; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D020543:Proteome
keywords: Bacillus licheniformis; Marker genes; Marker proteins; Starvation; Stress