The Bacillus subtilis germinant receptor GerA triggers premature germination in response to morphological defects during sporulation.

ABSTRACT: During sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, germinant receptors assemble in the inner membrane of the developing spore. In response to specific nutrients, these receptors trigger germination and outgrowth. In a transposon-sequencing screen, we serendipitously discovered that loss of function mutations in the gerA receptor partially suppress the phenotypes of > 25 sporulation mutants. Most of these mutants have modest defects in the assembly of the spore protective layers that are exacerbated in the presence of a functional GerA receptor. Several lines of evidence indicate that these mutants inappropriately trigger the activation of GerA during sporulation resulting in premature germination. These findings led us to discover that up to 8% of wild-type sporulating cells trigger premature germin

SUBMITTER: Ramirez-Guadiana FH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5570633 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature