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 Thackray, P. D.
Right arrow Articles by Moir, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Thackray, P. D.
Right arrow Articles by Moir, A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2001, p. 476-482, Vol. 183, No. 2
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.2.476-482.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

GerN, an Antiporter Homologue Important in Germination of Bacillus cereus Endospores

Penny D. Thackray, Javad Behravan,dagger Thomas W. Southworth, and Anne Moir*

Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom

Received 28 June 2000/Accepted 18 October 2000

A homologue of the grmA spore germination gene of Bacillus megaterium and of a NaH-antiporter gene (napA) of Enterococcus hirae has been identified in Bacillus cereus 569 (ATCC 10876). The putative protein product has 58 and 43% amino acid identity with GrmA and NapA, respectively. Insertional inactivation of this B. cereus gene, named gerN, did not affect vegetative growth or sporulation. The null mutant spores were 30-fold slower to germinate in inosine (5 mM) but germinated almost normally in response to L-alanine (10 mM). The null mutant spores germinated after several hours with inosine as the sole germinant, but germination was asynchronous and the normal order of germination events was perturbed. At a suboptimal germinant concentration (50 µM), inosine germination was completely blocked in the mutant, while the rate of germination in 50 µM L-alanine was reduced to one-third of that of the wild type. The requirement for GerN function in the response to a particular germinant suggests that a germination receptor may have a specifically associated antiporter, which is required at the initiation of germination and which, in the case of the inosine receptor, is GerN. Since germination in suboptimal concentrations of L-alanine shows a delay, additional germination transporters may be required for optimal response at low germinant concentrations.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield Firth Court, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom. Phone: 0044 1142224418. Fax: 0044 1142728697. E-mail: a.moir{at}sheffield.ac.uk.

dagger Present address: Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutics, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 91775-1365, Iran.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 2001, p. 476-482, Vol. 183, No. 2
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.2.476-482.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Paredes-Sabja, D., Setlow, P., Sarker, M. R. (2009). GerO, a Putative Na+/H+-K+ Antiporter, Is Essential for Normal Germination of Spores of the Pathogenic Bacterium Clostridium perfringens. J. Bacteriol. 191: 3822-3831 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Senior, A., Moir, A. (2008). The Bacillus cereus GerN and GerT Protein Homologs Have Distinct Roles in Spore Germination and Outgrowth, Respectively. J. Bacteriol. 190: 6148-6152 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Christie, G., Lazarevska, M., Lowe, C. R. (2008). Functional Consequences of Amino Acid Substitutions to GerVB, a Component of the Bacillus megaterium Spore Germinant Receptor. J. Bacteriol. 190: 2014-2022 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fujisawa, M., Ito, M., Krulwich, T. A. (2007). Three two-component transporters with channel-like properties have monovalent cation/proton antiport activity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 13289-13294 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Barrero-Gil, J., Rodriguez-Navarro, A., Benito, B. (2007). Cloning of the PpNHAD1 transporter of Physcomitrella patens, a chloroplast transporter highly conserved in photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. J Exp Bot 58: 2839-2849 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Christie, G., Lowe, C. R. (2007). Role of Chromosomal and Plasmid-Borne Receptor Homologues in the Response of Bacillus megaterium QM B1551 Spores to Germinants. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4375-4383 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wutipraditkul, N., Waditee, R., Incharoensakdi, A., Hibino, T., Tanaka, Y., Nakamura, T., Shikata, M., Takabe, T., Takabe, T. (2005). Halotolerant Cyanobacterium Aphanothece halophytica Contains NapA-Type Na+/H+ Antiporters with Novel Ion Specificity That Are Involved in Salt Tolerance at Alkaline pH. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 4176-4184 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bailey-Smith, K., Todd, S. J., Southworth, T. W., Proctor, J., Moir, A. (2005). The ExsA Protein of Bacillus cereus Is Required for Assembly of Coat and Exosporium onto the Spore Surface. J. Bacteriol. 187: 3800-3806 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wei, Y., Southworth, T. W., Kloster, H., Ito, M., Guffanti, A. A., Moir, A., Krulwich, T. A. (2003). Mutational Loss of a K+ and NH4+ Transporter Affects the Growth and Endospore Formation of Alkaliphilic Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4. J. Bacteriol. 185: 5133-5147 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chirakkal, H., O'Rourke, M., Atrih, A., Foster, S. J., Moir, A. (2002). Analysis of spore cortex lytic enzymes and related proteins in Bacillus subtilis endospore germination. Microbiology 148: 2383-2392 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Barlass, P. J., Houston, C. W., Clements, M. O., Moir, A. (2002). Germination of Bacillus cereus spores in response to L-alanine and to inosine: the roles of gerL and gerQ operons. Microbiology 148: 2089-2095 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Southworth, T. W., Guffanti, A. A., Moir, A., Krulwich, T. A. (2001). GerN, an Endospore Germination Protein of Bacillus cereus, Is an Na+/H+-K+ Antiporter. J. Bacteriol. 183: 5896-5903 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hudson, K. D., Corfe, B. M., Kemp, E. H., Feavers, I. M., Coote, P. J., Moir, A. (2001). Localization of GerAA and GerAC Germination Proteins in the Bacillus subtilis Spore. J. Bacteriol. 183: 4317-4322 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»