This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Márquez-Magaña, L M Articles by Chamberlin, M J Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Márquez-Magaña, L M Articles by Chamberlin, M J

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol. 1994 April; 176(8): 2427-2434

research-article

Characterization of the sigD transcription unit of Bacillus subtilis.

Division of Biochemsitry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.

ABSTRACT

The sigma D factor of Bacillus subtilis is required for the transcription of the flagellin and motility genes as well as for wild-type chemotaxis. Southern blot and sequence analyses demonstrate that the structural gene for sigma D, sigD, is located immediately downstream of a region of DNA originally identified as the chemotaxis (che) locus and now renamed the fla/che region. In fact, sigD appears to be part of a very large operon (> 26 kb) containing genes which encode structural proteins that form the hook-basal body complex as well as regulatory proteins required for chemotaxis. Transposon insertions up to 24 kb upstream of sigD, within several of the genes for the hook-basal body components, give rise to only a moderate decrease in sigD expression. The transposon insertions, however, block sigma D activity as demonstrated by the lack of flagellin expression in strains bearing these insertions. These effects appear to arise from two types of regulation. In cis the transposon insertions appear to introduce a partial block to transcription of sigD from upstream promoter elements; in trans they disrupt genes whose gene products are required for sigma D activity. It appears that sigD transcription is initiated, at least in part, by a promoter many kilobases upstream of its translation start site and that transcription of the flagellin gene by sigma D is dependent on the formation of a functional hook-basal body complex. The possibility that sigD is part of the fla/che operon was further tested by the integration of an insertion plasmid, containing strong transcription terminators, 1.6 and 24 kb upstream of the sigD gene. In both cases, the introduction of the terminators resulted in a greater decrease of sigD expression than was caused by the plasmid sequences alone. These results indicate that wild-type transcription of sigD is dependent on promoter sequences > 24kb upstream of its structural gene and that the entire fla/che region forms a single operon.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kearns, D. B., Losick, R. (2005). Cell population heterogeneity during growth of Bacillus subtilis. Genes Dev. 19: 3083-3094 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Werhane, H., Lopez, P., Mendel, M., Zimmer, M., Ordal, G. W., Marquez-Magana, L. M. (2004). The Last Gene of the fla/che Operon in Bacillus subtilis, ylxL, Is Required for Maximal {sigma}D Function. J. Bacteriol. 186: 4025-4029 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bergara, F., Ibarra, C., Iwamasa, J., Patarroyo, J. C., Aguilera, R., Marquez-Magana, L. M. (2003). CodY Is a Nutritional Repressor of Flagellar Gene Expression in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 185: 3118-3126 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ghelardi, E., Celandroni, F., Salvetti, S., Beecher, D. J., Gominet, M., Lereclus, D., Wong, A. C. L., Senesi, S. (2002). Requirement of flhA for Swarming Differentiation, Flagellin Export, and Secretion of Virulence-Associated Proteins in Bacillus thuringiensis. J. Bacteriol. 184: 6424-6433 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Antelmann, H., Tjalsma, H., Voigt, B., Ohlmeier, S., Bron, S., van Dijl, J. M., Hecker, M. (2001). A Proteomic View on Genome-Based Signal Peptide Predictions. Genome Res 11: 1484-1502 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• West, J. T., Estacio, W., Márquez-Magaña, L. (2000). Relative Roles of the fla/che PA, PD-3, and PsigD Promoters in Regulating Motility and sigD Expression in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 182: 4841-4848 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Schwartz, E., Buhrke, T., Gerischer, U., Friedrich, B. (1999). Positive Transcriptional Feedback Controls Hydrogenase Expression in Alcaligenes eutrophus H16. J. Bacteriol. 181: 5684-5692 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Yang, D.-H., von Kalckreuth, J., Allmansberger, R. (1999). Synthesis of the sigma D Protein Is Not Sufficient To Trigger Expression of Motility Functions in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 181: 2942-2946 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Estacio, W., Anna-Arriola, S. S., Adedipe, M., Márquez-Magaña, L. M. (1998). Dual Promoters Are Responsible for Transcription Initiation of the fla/che Operon in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 180: 3548-3555 [Abstract] [Full Text]