Open AccessTranscriptional analysis of three Bacillus subtilis genes coding for proteins with the α‐crystallin domain characteristic of small heat shock proteins
Author(s) -
Reischl Silke,
Thake Sandra,
Homuth Georg,
Schumann Wolfgang
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2001.tb09453.x
Subject(s) - bacillus subtilis , heat shock protein , crystallin , gene , cold shock domain , biology , computational biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , chemistry , bacteria , rna
In silico analysis of the complete Bacillus subtilis genome revealed the presence of three genes whose deduced amino acid sequences exhibit an α‐crystallin domain characteristic for the family of small heat shock proteins: cotM (which has already been identified [Henriques et al. (1997) J. Bacteriol 179, 1887–1897]), yocM , and cotP (formerly ydfT ). Analysis of the expression of all three genes by slot‐blot experiments and by transcriptional fusions revealed that none of them was heat‐inducible. Transcription of cotP was induced late during sporulation by the sporulation‐specific sigma factor σ K and negatively controlled by the GerE repressor. No expression of the yocM gene was found under all standard laboratory conditions tested. Both a cotP knockout mutant as well as a cotM cotP double knockout turned out to be viable and form spores and exhibited no germination defect.