Open AccessUse of lacZ Gene Fusions to Determine the Dependence Pattern of the Sporulation Gene spoIID in spo Mutants of Bacillus subtilis
Author(s) -
Sandra Clarke,
Isabel LópezDíaz,
J. Mandelstam
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1465-2080
pISSN - 1350-0872
DOI - 10.1099/00221287-132-11-2987
Subject(s) - bacillus subtilis , lac operon , mutant , gene , operon , locus (genetics) , biology , escherichia coli , fusion gene , genetics , gene product , microbiology and biotechnology , chromosome , gene expression , bacteria
The spoIID gene, which is involved in Bacillus subtilis sporulation, was fused to the beta-galactosidase gene, lacZ, of Escherichia coli so that the expression of beta-galactosidase would be under the control of the spoIID locus. When the fused product was inserted into the B. subtilis chromosome, production of beta-galactosidase indicated that the spoIID gene was expressed 1.5 h after the start of sporulation. When the spoIID::lacZ fusion was inserted into the chromosome of sporulation mutants, all strains carrying spo0 lesions and those with mutations in spoIIA, spoIIE and spoIIG loci failed to make beta-galactosidase. The proposed provisional order of expression of operons governing stage II is spoIIA----[spoIIG, spoIIE]----[spoIID, spoIIB, spoIIF].