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Journal of Bacteriology, May 2009, p. 3050-3058, Vol. 191, No. 9
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00049-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Regulation of Bacillus subtilis aprE Expression by glnA through Inhibition of scoC and {sigma}D-Dependent degR Expression{triangledown}

Sadanobu Abe,{dagger} Ayako Yasumura,{dagger} and Teruo Tanaka*

Institute of Oceanic Research and Environment, Tokai University, Orido 3-20-1, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan

Received 15 January 2009/ Accepted 18 February 2009

Expression of the gene for the extracellular alkaline protease (aprE) of Bacillus subtilis is subject to regulation by many positive and negative regulators. We have found that aprE expression was increased by disruption of the glutamine synthetase gene glnA. The increase in aprE expression was attributed to a decreased in expression of scoC, which encodes a negative regulator of aprE expression. The glnA effect on scoC expression was abolished by further disruption of tnrA, indicating that aprE expression is under global regulation through TnrA. In the scoC background, however, aprE expression was decreased by glnA deletion, and it was shown that the decrease was due to a defect in positive regulation by DegU. Among the genes that affect aprE expression through DegU, the expression of degR, encoding a protein that stabilizes phosphorylated DegU, was inhibited by glnA deletion. It was further shown that the decrease in degR expression by glnA deletion was caused by inhibition of the expression of sigD, encoding the {sigma}D factor, which is required for degR expression. In accordance with these findings, the expression levels of aprE-lacZ in glnA scoC degR and scoC degR strains were identical. These results led us to conclude that glnA deletion brings about two effects on aprE expression, i.e., a positive effect through inhibition of scoC expression and a negative effect through inhibition of degR expression, with the former predominating over the latter.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Oceanic Research and Development, Tokai University, Orido 3-20-1, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan. Phone: 81-543-34-0411, ext. 2933. Fax: 81-543-34-9834. E-mail: teruot{at}scc.u-tokai.ac.jp

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 27 February 2009.

{dagger} These authors contributed equally to this project.

Journal of Bacteriology, May 2009, p. 3050-3058, Vol. 191, No. 9
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00049-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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