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Transcriptional coupling of DNA repair in sporulating B acillus subtilis cells
Author(s) -
RamírezGuadiana Fernando H.,
Carmen BarajasOrnelas Rocío,
AyalaGarcía Víctor M.,
Yasbin Ronald E.,
Robleto Eduardo,
PedrazaReyes Mario
Publication year - 2013
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/mmi.12417
Subject(s) - biology , bacillus subtilis , mutagenesis , dna repair , mutant , dna , dna damage , transcription (linguistics) , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , spore , sporangium , dna replication , function (biology) , nucleotide excision repair , bacteria , linguistics , philosophy
Summary In conditions of halted or limited genome replication, like those experienced in sporulating cells of B acillus subtilis, a more immediate detriment caused by DNA damage is altering the transcriptional programme that drives this developmental process. Here, we report that mfd , which encodes a conserved bacterial protein that mediates transcription‐coupled DNA repair ( TCR ), is expressed together with uvrA in both compartments of B . subtilis sporangia. The function of Mfd was found to be important for processing the genetic damage during B . subtilis sporulation. Disruption of mfd sensitized developing spores to mitomycin‐ C ( M ‐ C ) treatment and UV ‐ C irradiation. Interestingly, in non‐growing sporulating cells, Mfd played an anti‐mutagenic role as its absence promoted UV ‐induced mutagenesis through a pathway involving YqjH / YqjW ‐mediated translesion synthesis ( TLS ). Two observations supported the participation of Mfd ‐dependent TCR in spore morphogenesis: (i) disruption of mfd notoriously affected the efficiency of B . subtilis sporulation and (ii) in comparison with the wild‐type strain, a significant proportion of Mfd ‐deficient sporangia that survived UV ‐ C treatment developed an asporogenous phenotype. We propose that the Mfd ‐dependent repair pathway operates during B . subtilis sporulation and that its function is required to eliminate genetic damage from transcriptionally active genes.