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Volume 151, Issue 9

Analysis of teichoic acid biosynthesis regulation reveals that the extracytoplasmic function sigma factor is induced by phosphate depletion in W23 Free

Abstract

The expression of the W23 genes specifying the biosynthesis of the major wall teichoic acid, the poly(ribitol phosphate), was studied under phosphate limitation using reporter fusions. Three different regulation patterns can be deduced from these -galactosidase activity data: (i) and gene expression is downregulated under phosphate starvation; (ii) and, to a minor extent, expression after an initial decrease unexpectedly increases; and (iii) is not influenced by phosphate concentration. To dissect the regulatory pattern, its two promoters were analysed under phosphate limitation: The P-ext promoter is repressed under phosphate starvation by the PhoPR two-component system, whereas, under the same conditions, the P-int promoter is upregulated by the action of an extracytoplasmic function (ECF) factor, . In contrast to strain 168, is activated in strain W23 in phosphate-depleted conditions, a phenomenon indirectly dependent on PhoPR, the two-component regulatory system responsible for the adaptation to phosphate starvation. These results provide further evidence for the role of in cell-wall stress response, and suggest that impairment of cell-wall structure is the signal activating this ECF factor.

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Keyword(s): ECF, extracytoplasmic function , GlcNAc, N-acetylglucosamine , Gro-P, glycerol phosphate , ManNAc, N-acetylmannosamine , MurNAc, N-acetylmuramate , PG, peptidoglycan , Rbo-P, ribitol phosphate , TUA, teichuronic acid(s) and WTA, wall teichoic acid(s)
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2005-09-01
2024-04-20
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Analysis of teichoic acid biosynthesis regulation reveals that the extracytoplasmic function sigma factor σM is induced by phosphate depletion in Bacillus subtilis W23
Microbiology 151, 3041 (2005); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.28021-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.28021-0
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