JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Inaoka, T.
Right arrow Articles by Ochi, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Inaoka, T.
Right arrow Articles by Ochi, K.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2002, p. 3923-3930, Vol. 184, No. 14
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.14.3923-3930.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

RelA Protein Is Involved in Induction of Genetic Competence in Certain Bacillus subtilis Strains by Moderating the Level of Intracellular GTP

Takashi Inaoka and Kozo Ochi*

National Food Research Institute, 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan

Received 22 January 2002/ Accepted 26 April 2002

We found that the ability to develop genetic competence of a certain relaxed (relA) aspartate-auxotrophic strain of Bacillus subtilis is significantly lower than that of the isogenic stringent (relA+) strain. Transcriptional fusion analysis utilizing a lacZ reporter gene indicated that the amount of the ComK protein, known as the key protein for competence development, is greatly reduced in the relaxed strain than in the stringent strain. We also found that the addition of decoyinine, a GMP synthetase inhibitor, induces expression of a competence gene (comG) in the relaxed strain, accompanied by a pronounced decrease in the level of intracellular GTP as measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. The transformation efficiency of the relaxed strain increased 100-fold when decoyinine was added at t0 (the transition point between exponential to stationary growth phase). Conversely, supplementation of guanosine together with decoyinine completely abolished the observed effect of adding decoyinine on competence development. Furthermore, the impaired ability of the relaxed strain for competence development was completely restored by disrupting the codY gene, which is known to negatively control comK expression. Our results indicate that the RelA protein plays an essential role in the induction of competence development at least under certain physiological conditions by reducing the level of intracellular GTP and overcoming CodY-mediated regulation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: National Food Research Institute, 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan. Phone: 81-298-38-8125. Fax: 81-298-38-7996. E-mail: kochi{at}affrc.go.jp.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2002, p. 3923-3930, Vol. 184, No. 14
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.14.3923-3930.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2002 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.