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DNA supercoiling and thermal regulation of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis in Bacillus subtilis
Author(s) -
Grau Roberto,
Gardiol Daniela,
Glikin Gerardo Claudio,
Mendoza Diego
Publication year - 1994
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.1365-2958.1994.tb00372.x
Subject(s) - dna supercoil , bacillus subtilis , dna gyrase , biology , novobiocin , dna , fatty acid , biochemistry , biosynthesis , plasmid , dna synthesis , unsaturated fatty acid , bacteria , gene , escherichia coli , dna replication , genetics , antibiotics
Summary Bacillus subtilis growing at 37° C synthesizes, almost exclusively, saturated fatty acids. However, when a culture growing at 37°C is transferred to 20°C, the synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids is induced. The addition of the DNA gyrase inhibitor novobiocin specifically prevented the induction of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis at 20° C. Furthermore, it was determined that plasmid DNA isolated from cells growing at 20°C was significantly more negatively supercoiled than the equivalent DNA isolated from cells growing at 37°C. The overall results agree with the hypothesis that an increase in DNA supercoiling associated with a temperature downshift could regulate the unsaturated fatty acids synthesis in B. subtilis.