Analysis of Spo0M function in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Spo0M has been previously reported as a regulator of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis; however, little is known about the mechanisms through which it participates in sporulation, and there is no information to date that relates this protein to other processes in the bacterium. In this work we present evidence from proteomic, protein-protein interaction, morphological, subcellular localization microscopy and bioinformatics studies which indicate that Spo0M function is not necessarily restricted to sporulation, and point towards its involvement in other stages of the vegetative life cycle. In the current study, we provide evidence that Spo0M interacts with cytoskeletal proteins involved in cell division, which suggest a function additional to that previously described in sporulation. Spo0M expression is not restricted to the transition phase or sporulation; rather, its expression begins during the early stages of growth and Spo0M localization in B. subtilis depends on the bacterial life cycle and could be related to an additional proposed function. This is supported by our discovery of homologs in a broad distribution of bacterial genera, even in non-sporulating species. Our work paves the way for re-evaluation of the role of Spo0M in bacterial cell.

SRRF: Universal live-cell super-resolution microscopy

“…1 Hz). Laser-based SRRF microscopy of conventional fluorophores has also been demonstrated in fixed bacteria for multi-colour imaging in B. subtilis ( Vega-Cabrera et al, 2017 ) and z-stack imaging of membrane proteins in S. aureus ( Weihs et al, 2018 ).…”

Alteration of Proteomes in First-Generation Cultures of Bacillus pumilus Spores Exposed to Outer Space

“…Enhanced sporulation of space-surviving strains was observed compared to the ground control (6). Here, our data showed that Spo0M, an important sporulation regulator that is involved in initiating sporulation and cell division (29), and dihydropteridine reductase or cell division protein DivIB, an essential protein for efficient sporulation under harsh conditions (30), were increased in abundance in space-surviving strains, particularly in the Dark-Space strain (∼1.7- to 2-fold higher than the control). Moreover, the primary function of UspA is to protect bacteria from environmental stresses such as starvation, oxidative stress, chemical stress, etc.…”

Armeniaspirols inhibit the AAA+ proteases ClpXP and ClpYQ leading to cell division arrest in Gram-positive bacteria

“…FtsZ polymerizes at the mid-cell forming a dynamic ring upon which additional divisome proteins are scaffolded to guide septum synthesis between daughter cells 55,56 . Additionally the highly abundant chaperones GroEL, DnaK, and Tig, known to play a role in FtsZ function, also increased 40,[57][58][59][60][61][62] . As these are known ClpXP substrates [23][24][25]27,57 , they show a significant increase in the ΔclpP dataset as well (Figure 5b, Figure S1).…”