Journal
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
Volume 185, Issue 7, Pages 2315-2329Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.7.2315-2329.2003
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NIGMS NIH HHS [R01 GM019698, F32 GM020165, GM19698, R37 GM018568, GM18568, R37 GM019698, R01 GM018568] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Bacillus subtilis spores can germinate with a 1:1 chelate of Ca2+ and dipicolinic acid (DPA), a compound present at high levels in the spore core. Using a genetic screen to identify genes encoding proteins that are specifically involved in spore germination by Ca2+-DPA, three mutations were identified. One was in the gene encoding the cortex lytic enzyme, CwIJ, that was previously shown to be essential for spore germination by Ca2+-DPA. The other two were mapped to an open reading frame, ywdL, encoding a protein of unknown function. Analysis of ywdL expression showed that the gene is expressed during sporulation in the mother cell compartment of the sporulating cell and that its transcription is sigma(E) dependent. Functional characterization of YwdL demonstrated that it is a new spore coat protein that is essential for the presence of CwIJ in the spore coat. Assembly of YwdL itself into the spore coat is dependent on the coat morphogenetic proteins CotE and SpoIVA. However, other than lacking CwIJ, ywdL spores have no obvious defect in their spore coat. Because of the role for YwdL in a part of the spore germination process, we propose renaming ywdL as a spore germination gene, gerQ.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available