Salt‐sensitivity of σH and Spo0A prevents sporulation of Bacillus subtilis at high osmolarity avoiding death during cellular differentiation

Citations Over TimeTop 16% of 2015 papers

Abstract

The spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis frequently experiences high osmolarity as a result of desiccation in the soil. The formation of a highly desiccation-resistant endospore might serve as a logical osmostress escape route when vegetative growth is no longer possible. However, sporulation efficiency drastically decreases concomitant with an increase in the external salinity. Fluorescence microscopy of sporulation-specific promoter fusions to gfp revealed that high salinity blocks entry into the sporulation pathway at a very early stage. Specifically, we show that both Spo0A- and SigH-dependent transcription are impaired. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the association of SigH with core RNA polymerase is reduced under these conditions. Suppressors that modestly increase sporulation efficiency at high salinity map to the coding region of sigH and in the regulatory region of kinA, encoding one the sensor kinases that activates Spo0A. These findings led us to discover that B. subtilis cells that overproduce KinA can bypass the salt-imposed block in sporulation. Importantly, these cells are impaired in the morphological process of engulfment and late forespore gene expression and frequently undergo lysis. Altogether our data indicate that B. subtilis blocks entry into sporulation in high-salinity environments preventing commitment to a developmental program that it cannot complete.

Related Papers

• → Respiration in Relation to Adenosine Triphosphate Content during Desiccation and Rehydration of a Desiccation-tolerant and a Desiccation-intolerant Moss(1979)32 cited
• → ВПЛИВ BACILLUS SUBTILIS НА ПОРОСЯТ НА ВІДЛУЧЕННІ(2022)4 cited
• → Desiccation tolerance in mosses. II. Differences in the responses of Hedwigia ciliata and Mnium cuspidatum to desiccation and rehydration(1986)14 cited
• → СВОЙСТВА ШТАММОВ BACILLUS SUBTILIS КАК ПРОДУЦЕНТОВ АМИЛАЗ ПРИ ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕ САХАРОСОДЕРЖАЩЕЙ КОРМОВОЙ ДОБАВКИ(2020)1 cited
• 산란계에 Bacillus subtilis의 급여가 계란 품질, 혈액 성상 및 분내 암모니아태 질소 함량에 미치는 영향(2005)