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The spo0A gene is implicated in the maintenance of non‐complementing diploids in Bacillus subtilis
Author(s) -
Dérout J.,
Thaler David S.,
Guillén Nancy,
Hirschbein Luisa
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb00870.x
Subject(s) - biology , chloramphenicol acetyltransferase , bacillus subtilis , ploidy , gene , genetics , phenotype , mutant , null allele , chromosome , allele , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , reporter gene , bacteria
Summary Bacillus subtilis can exist in a diploid state in which two genetically distinct chromosomes co‐exist in the same cell and yet only one of them is expressed, thereby determining the phenotype. Such cells are called non‐complementing diploids (Ncds). In this study, two types of experiments are reported which indicate that a previously known pleiotropic gene, spo0A , plays a role in the maintaining the diploid state, as follows, (i) When protoplasts of two Spo0A mutant strains were fused, the resulting products continued to segregate cells of both parental phenotypes for many more divisions than had been reported previously, (ii) When a stable Ned (an Ncd in which the unexpressed markers are not spontaneously activated at a detectable level) harbouring a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene on the silent chromosome was transformed with spo0A null alleles the transformants often expressed chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity. Together these results indicate that the spo0A gene is involved in maintenance of the diploid state in both unstable and stable Ncds.