WhiA, a protein of unknown function conserved among gram-positive bacteria, is essential for sporulation in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

ABSTRACT: The whiA sporulation gene of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), which plays a key role in switching aerial hyphae away from continued extension growth and toward sporulation septation, was cloned by complementation of whiA mutants. DNA sequencing of the wild-type allele and five whiA mutations verified that whiA is a gene encoding a protein with homologues in all gram-positive bacteria whose genome sequence is known, whether of high or low G+C content. No function has been attributed to any of these WhiA-like proteins. In most cases, as in S. coelicolor, the whiA-like gene is downstream of other conserved genes in an operon-like cluster. Phenotypic analysis of a constructed disruption mutant confirmed that whiA is essential for sporulation. whiA is transcribed from at least two promoters, the

SUBMITTER: Ainsa JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC110991 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature