Developmentally regulated proteolysis by MdfA and ClpCP mediates metabolic differentiation during <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> sporulation.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus subtilis sporulation entails a dramatic transformation of the two cells required to assemble a dormant spore, with the larger mother cell engulfing the smaller forespore to produce the "cell within a cell" structure that is a hallmark of endospore formation. Sporulation also entails metabolic differentiation, whereby key metabolic enzymes are depleted from the forespore but maintained in the mother cell. This reduces the metabolic potential of the forespore, which becomes dependent on mother cell metabolism and the SpoIIQ-SpoIIIA channel to obtain metabolic building blocks necessary for development. We demonstrate that metabolic differentiation depends on the ClpCP protease and a forespore-produced protein encoded by the yjbA gene, which we have renamed MdfA (metabol

SUBMITTER: Riley EP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11960778 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature