Evidence that the Bacillus subtilis SpoIIGA protein is a novel type of signal-transducing aspartic protease.

ABSTRACT: The bacterium Bacillus subtilis undergoes endospore formation in response to starvation. sigma factors play a key role in spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression during development. Activation of sigma factors is coordinated by signal transduction between the forespore and the mother cell. sigma(E) is produced as pro-sigma(E), which is activated in the mother cell by cleavage in response to a signal from the forespore. We report that expression of SpoIIR, a putative signaling protein normally made in the forespore, and SpoIIGA, a putative protease, is necessary and sufficient for accurate, rapid, and abundant processing of pro-sigma(E) to sigma(E) in Escherichia coli. Modeling and mutational analyses provide evidence that SpoIIGA is a novel type of aspartic protease whose C-terminal h

SUBMITTER: Imamura D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2397457 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature