Parallel pathways of repression and antirepression governing the transition to stationary phase in Bacillus subtilis

The AbrB protein of the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis is a repressor of numerous genes that are switched on during the transition from the exponential to the stationary phase of growth. The gene for AbrB is under the negative control of the master regulator for entry into sporulation, Sp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2008-10, Vol.105 (40), p.15547-15552
Main Authors: Banse, Allison V, Chastanet, Arnaud, Rahn-Lee, Lilah, Hobbs, Errett C, Losick, Richard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis - genetics
Bacillus subtilis - growth & development
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Bacterial Proteins - metabolism
Binding Sites
Biological Sciences
Cell growth
DNA
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
Genes
Genome, Bacterial
Gram-positive bacteria
Life Sciences
Operon
Operons
Proteins
Regulator genes
Regulon
Repression
Signal transduction
Signal Transduction - genetics
Spores, Bacterial - growth & development
Sporulation
Steepest descent method
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Summary:The AbrB protein of the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis is a repressor of numerous genes that are switched on during the transition from the exponential to the stationary phase of growth. The gene for AbrB is under the negative control of the master regulator for entry into sporulation, Spo0A~P. It has generally been assumed that derepression of genes under the negative control of AbrB is achieved by Spo0A~P-mediated repression of abrB followed by rapid degradation of the AbrB protein. Here, we report that AbrB levels do decrease during the transition to stationary phase, but that this decrease is not the entire basis by which AbrB-controlled genes are derepressed. Instead, AbrB is inactivated by the product of a uncharacterized gene, abbA (formerly ykzF), whose transcription is switched on by Spo0A~P. The abbA gene encodes an antirepressor that binds to AbrB and prevents it from binding to DNA. Combining our results with previous findings, we conclude that Spo0A~P sets in motion two parallel pathways of repression and antirepression to trigger the expression of diverse categories of genes during the transition to stationary phase.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0805203105