A Mutation in the Bacillus subtilis rsbU Gene That Limits RNA Synthesis during Sporulation.

ABSTRACT: Mutants of Bacillis subtilis that are temperature sensitive for RNA synthesis during sporulation were isolated after selection with a 32P suicide agent. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that two of the mutants carried an identical lesion in the rsbU gene, which encodes a phosphatase that indirectly activates SigB, the stress-responsive RNA polymerase sigma factor. The mutation appeared to cause RsbU to be hyperactive, because the mutants were more resistant than the parent strain to ethanol stress. In support of this hypothesis, pseudorevertants that regained wild-type levels of sporulation at high temperature had secondary mutations that prevented expression of the mutant rsbU gene. The properties of these RsbU mutants support the idea that activation of SigB diminishes the bacterium's ab

SUBMITTER: Rothstein DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5494743 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature