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Journal of Bacteriology, February 2004, p. 1129-1135, Vol. 186, No. 4
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.4.1129-1135.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Assembly of Multiple CotC Forms into the Bacillus subtilis Spore Coat

Rachele Isticato,¹ Giovanni Esposito,¹ Rita Zilhão,^2,3 Sofia Nolasco,^3, Giuseppina Cangiano,¹ Maurilio De Felice,¹ Adriano O. Henriques,² and Ezio Ricca^1*

Dipartimento di Fisiologia Generale ed Ambientale, Università Federico II, Naples, Italy,¹ Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2781-901 Oeiras,² Departmento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal³

Received 2 July 2003/ Accepted 12 September 2003

We report evidence that the CotC polypeptide, a previously identified component of the Bacillus subtilis spore coat, is assembled into at least four distinct forms. Two of these, having molecular masses of 12 and 21 kDa, appeared 8 h after the onset of sporulation and were probably assembled on the forming spore immediately after their synthesis, since no accumulation of either of them was detected in the mother cell compartment, where their synthesis occurs. The other two components, 12.5 and 30 kDa, were generated 2 h later and were probably the products of posttranslational modifications of the two early forms occurring directly on the coat surface during spore maturation. None of the CotC forms was found either on the spore coat or in the mother cell compartment of a cotH mutant. This indicates that CotH serves a dual role of stabilizing the early forms of CotC and promoting the assembly of both early and late forms on the spore surface.

Present address: Gulbenkian Institute of Science, Oeiras, Portugal.

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