Disruption of Two-component System LytSR Affects Forespore Engulfment in Bacillus thuringiensis

Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

Chen, Xiaomin¹  Song, Fuping¹  Peng, Qi²  Wu, Jianbo²  Zhang, Jie²  Qiu, Lili²  Tian, Hongtao² 

[1] Institute of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultural University, China;State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China

关键词: two-component system;    LytSR;    sporulation;    spoIIP;    Bacillus thuringiensis;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fcimb.2017.00468

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Two-component regulatory systems (TCSs) play pivotal roles in bacteria sensing many different stimuli from environment. Here, we investigated the role of the LytSR TCS in spore formation in Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) subsp. kurstaki HD73. lacZ gene fusions revealed that the transcription of the downstream genes, lrgAB, encoding two putative membrane-associated proteins, is regulated by LytSR. The sporulation efficiency of a lytSR mutant was significantly lower than that of wild-type HD73. A confocal microscopic analysis demonstrated that LytSR modulates the process of forespore engulfment. Moreover, the transcription of the lytSR operon is regulated by the mother-cell transcription factor SigE, whereas the transcription of the sporulation gene spoIIP was reduced in the lytSR mutant, as demonstrated with a β-galactosidase activity assay. These results suggest that LytSR modulates forespore engulfment by affecting the transcription of the spoIIP gene in Bt.

【 授权许可】

CC BY