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Journal of Bacteriology, October 2005, p. 6832-6840, Vol. 187, No. 19
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.19.6832-6840.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Control of the Expression and Compartmentalization of ^G Activity during Sporulation of Bacillus subtilis by Regulators of ^F and ^E

Vasant K. Chary, Mauro Meloni, David W. Hilbert, and Patrick J. Piggot^*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Received 10 June 2005/ Accepted 22 July 2005

During formation of spores by Bacillus subtilis the RNA polymerase factor ^G ordinarily becomes active during spore formation exclusively in the prespore upon completion of engulfment of the prespore by the mother cell. Formation and activation of ^G ordinarily requires prior activity of ^F in the prespore and ^E in the mother cell. Here we report that in spoIIA mutants lacking both ^F and the anti-sigma factor SpoIIAB and in which ^E is not active, ^G nevertheless becomes active. Further, its activity is largely confined to the mother cell. Thus, there is a switch in the location of ^G activity from prespore to mother cell. Factors contributing to the mother cell location are inferred to be read-through of spoIIIG, the structural gene for ^G, from the upstream spoIIG locus and the absence of SpoIIAB, which can act in the mother cell as an anti-sigma factor to ^G. When the spoIIIG locus was moved away from spoIIG to the distal amyE locus, ^G became active earlier in sporulation in spoIIA deletion mutants, and the sporulation septum was not formed, suggesting that premature ^G activation can block septum formation. We report a previously unrecognized control in which SpoIIGA can prevent the appearance of ^G activity, and pro-^E (but not ^E) can counteract this effect of SpoIIGA. We find that in strains lacking ^F and SpoIIAB and engineered to produce active ^E in the mother cell without the need for SpoIIGA, ^G also becomes active in the mother cell.

Present address: Unité des Toxins et Pathogénie Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.

Present address: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.

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