Identification of sporulation genes by genome-wide analysis of the σ E regulon of Bacillus subtilis

Microbiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 149 (10) ◽  
pp. 3023-3034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Feucht ◽  
Louise Evans ◽  
Jeff Errington

Differentiation in the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis is governed by the sequential activation of five sporulation-specific transcription factors. The early mother-cell-specific transcription factor, σ E, directs the transcription of many genes that contribute to the formation of mature, dormant spores. In this study, DNA microarrays were used to identify genes belonging to the σ E regulon. In total, 171 genes were found to be under the control of σ E. Of these, 101 genes had not previously been described as being σ E dependent. Disruption of some of the previously unknown genes (ydcC, yhaL, yhbH, yjaV and yqfD) resulted in a defect in sporulation.

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (5) ◽  
pp. 1590-1598 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Hilbert ◽  
Patrick J. Piggot

ABSTRACT During sporulation, Bacillus subtilis undergoes an asymmetric division that results in two cells with different fates, the larger mother cell and the smaller forespore. The protein phosphatase SpoIIE, which is required for activation of the forespore-specific transcription factor σF, is also required for optimal efficiency and timing of asymmetric division. We performed a genetic screen for spoIIE mutants that were impaired in sporulation but not σF activity and isolated a strain with the mutation spoIIEV697A. The mutant exhibited a 10- to 40-fold reduction in sporulation and a sixfold reduction in asymmetric division compared to the parent. Transcription of the σF-dependent spoIIQ promoter was increased more than 10-fold and was no longer confined to the forespore. The excessive σF activity persisted even when asymmetric division was prevented. Disruption of spoIIGB did not restore asymmetric division to the spoIIEV697A mutant, indicating that the deficiency is not a consequence of predivisional activation of the mother cell-specific transcription factor σE. Deletion of the gene encoding σF (spoIIAC) restored asymmetric division; however, a mutation that dramatically reduced the number of promoters responsive to σF, spoIIAC561 (spoIIACV233 M), failed to do so. This result suggests that the block is due to expression of one of the small subset of σF-dependent genes expressed in this background or to unregulated interaction of σF with some other factor. Our results indicate that regulation of SpoIIE plays a critical role in coupling asymmetric division to σF activation in order to ensure proper spatial and temporal expression of forespore-specific genes.


2004 ◽  
Vol 101 (28) ◽  
pp. 10458-10463 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Bruce ◽  
I. J. Donaldson ◽  
I. C. Wood ◽  
S. A. Yerbury ◽  
M. I. Sadowski ◽  
...  

F1000Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Stubbs ◽  
Shweta Gopaulakrishnan ◽  
Kimberly Glass ◽  
Nathalie Pochet ◽  
Celine Everaert ◽  
...  

DNA transcription is intrinsically complex. Bioinformatic work with transcription factors (TFs) is complicated by a multiplicity of data resources and annotations. The Bioconductor package TFutils includes data structures and functions to enhance the precision and utility of integrative analyses that have components involving TFs. TFutils provides catalogs of human TFs from three reference sources (CISBP, HOCOMOCO, and GO), a catalog of TF targets derived from MSigDb, and multiple approaches to enumerating TF binding sites. Aspects of integration of TF binding patterns and genome-wide association study results are explored in examples.


Author(s):  
Shaiq Sultan ◽  
Muhammad Amjid Ali ◽  
Rana Muhammad Atif ◽  
Farrukh Azeem ◽  
Habibullah Nadeem ◽  
...  

WRKY transcription factors are a class of DNA-binding proteins that bind with a specific sequence C/TTGACT/C known as W-Box found in promoters of genes which are regulated by these WRKYs. From previous studies, 43 different stress responsive WRKY transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana, identified and then categorized in three groups viz., abiotic, biotic and both of these stresses. A comprehensive genome wide analysis including chromosomal localization, gene structure analysis, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis and promoter analysis of these WRKY genes was carried out in this study to determine the functional homology in Arabidopsis. This analysis led to the classification of these WRKY family members into 3 major groups and subgroups and showed evolutionary relationship among these groups on the base of their functional WRKY domain, chromosomal localization and intron/exon structure. The proposed groups of these stress responsive WRKY genes and annotation based on their position on chromosomes can also be explored to determine their functional homology in other plant species in relation to different stresses. The result of the present study provides indispensable genomic information for the stress responsive WRKY transcription factors in Arabidopsis and will pave the way to explain the precise role of various AtWRKYs in plant growth and development under stressed conditions.


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