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Journal of Bacteriology, December 2006, p. 8189-8195, Vol. 188, No. 23
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01119-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Critical Residues and Novel Effects of Overexpression of the Streptomyces coelicolor Developmental Protein BldB: Evidence for a Critical Interacting Partner{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Marcus Eccleston, Andrew Willems, Adam Beveridge, and Justin R. Nodwell*

Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre, 1200 Main Street W., Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3Z5, Canada

Received 26 July 2006/ Accepted 30 August 2006

The bldB gene of Streptomyces coelicolor encodes the best-characterized member of a family of small proteins that have low isoelectric points but that lack any previously characterized sequence motifs. BldB is dimeric and is required for the efficient production of antibiotics and spore-forming cells, called aerial hyphae, by growing colonies. The mechanism of action of BldB and its relatives is unknown. Here, we have explored amino acids in BldB that either are highly conserved or have been implicated in function genetically. We show that five amino acids are important for its function at physiological expression levels. Mutations in three of these amino acids gave rise to proteins that were either monomeric or unstable in vivo, while two others are not. We find that overexpression of bldB in S. coelicolor blocks sporulation prior to sporulation-specific septation but permits the formation of aerial hyphae. Vegetative septation was apparently normal in both the bldB null mutant and the bldB overexpression strain. To our surprise, overexpression of the dimerization-competent but functionally defective alleles caused a dramatic acceleration of sporulation. Our results suggest that BldB makes at least one important contact with another subcellular constituent and that a loss or alteration of this interaction impairs the phenotypic properties of the organism.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre, 1200 Main Street W., Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3Z5, Canada. Phone: (905) 525-9140, ext. 27335. Fax: (905) 522-9033. E-mail: nodwellj{at}mcmaster.ca.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 8 September 2006.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, December 2006, p. 8189-8195, Vol. 188, No. 23
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01119-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

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