Open AccessThe promoter for a sporulation gene in the spoIVC locus of Bacillus subtilis and its use in studies of temporal and spatial control of gene expression
Author(s) -
Barbara N. Kunkel,
Kathleen Sandman,
S. Panzer,
Philip Youngman,
Richard Losick
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.652
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1067-8832
pISSN - 0021-9193
DOI - 10.1128/jb.170.8.3513-3522.1988
Subject(s) - biology , regulon , bacillus subtilis , gene , transcription (linguistics) , genetics , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , locus (genetics) , promoter , pair rule gene , transcriptional regulation , regulator gene , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , linguistics , philosophy
We have identified the transcription start site and regulatory region governing the expression of a sporulation gene in the spoIVC locus of Bacillus subtilis. Efficient expression and developmental regulation of this gene was controlled from a promoter region that extended no more than 110 base pairs upstream and no more than 4 base pairs downstream from the start site of transcription, on which basis we infer that spoIVC is regulated at the level of transcription initiation. Using a transcriptional fusion of the spoIVC gene to the lacZ gene of Escherichia coli, we found that spoIVC expression was turned on at the third to fourth hour of sporulation (at about the developmental stage [IV] that its products are required in spore formation) and that this transcription was largely restricted to the mother cell chamber of the sporangium. Mutations in many different spo genes (causing blocks at stages 0 to V) were found to influence (negatively and positively) the level of spoIVC expression. Our results distinguish the mode of spoIVC regulation from that of previously studied sporulation genes and indicate that it is representative of a new regulon of mother cell-specific gene expression.