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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2005, p. 7631-7638, Vol. 187, No. 22
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.22.7631-7638.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bacillus subtilis Cysteine Synthetase Is a Global Regulator of the Expression of Genes Involved in Sulfur Assimilation

Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR-CONICET) and Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Suipacha 531, 2000 Rosario, Argentina

Received 18 May 2005/ Accepted 26 August 2005

The synthesis of L-cysteine, the major mechanism by which sulfur is incorporated into organic compounds in microorganisms, occupies a significant fraction of bacterial metabolism. In Bacillus subtilis the cysH operon, encoding several proteins involved in cysteine biosynthesis, is induced by sulfur starvation and tightly repressed by cysteine. We show that a null mutation in the cysK gene encoding an O-acetylserine-(thiol)lyase, the enzyme that catalyzes the final step in cysteine biosynthesis, results in constitutive expression of the cysH operon. Using DNA microarrays we found that, in addition to cysH, almost all of the genes required for sulfate assimilation are constitutively expressed in cysK mutants. These results indicate that CysK, besides its enzymatic role in cysteine biosynthesis, is a global negative regulator of genes involved in sulfur metabolism.

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