SKPDT is a signaling peptide that stimulates sporulation and cry1Aa expression in Bacillus thuringiensis but not in Bacillus subtilis

Aceves-Díez, Ángel E.; Robles-Burgueño, Refugio; Torre, Mayra de la

doi:10.1007/s00253-007-0982-0

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Little is known about signalling via the Phr family as well as subsequent signalling cascades in other members of the genus Bacillus; such pathways appear to be rather diverse, if not even strain-specific (Aceves-Diez et al 2007;Alcaraz et al 2010). In Bacillus coagulans (strains DSM1; 2-6; 36D1), Rap-Phr signalling cassettes are either hardly conserved or even absent (Kovacs et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

What renders Bacilli genetically competent? A gaze beyond the model organism

Jakobs

Meinhardt

2014

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Natural genetic competence enables bacteria to take in and establish exogenously supplied DNA and thus constitutes a valuable tool for strain improvement. Extensively studied in the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis genetic competence has indeed proven successful for genetic manipulation aiming at enhancement of handling, yield, and biosafety. The majority of Bacilli, particularly those relevant for industrial application, do not or only poorly develop genetic competence, although rather homologous DNA-uptake machineries are routinely encoded. Establishing the competent state solely due to high cell densities (quorum sensing dependency) appears to be restricted to the model organism, in which the small signalling peptide ComS initiates the regulatory pathway that ultimately leads to the expression of all genes necessary for reaching the competent state. Agreeing with the lack of a functional ComS peptide, competence-mediated transformation of other Bacilli depends on nutrient exhaustion rather than cell density. Genetically, competent strains of the model organism B. subtilis, cultivated for a long time and selected for laboratory purposes, display probably not least to such selection a point mutation in the promoter of a regulatory gene that favors competence development whereas the wild-type progenitor only poorly displays genetic competence. Consistent with competence being a matter of deregulation, all strains of Bacillus licheniformis displaying efficient DNA uptake were found to carry mutations in regulator genes, which are responsible for their genetic competence. Thus, strain-specific genetic equipment and regulation as well as the proven role of domestication for the well-established laboratory strains ought to be considered when attempting to broaden the applicability of competence as a genetic tool for strains other than the model organism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

What renders Bacilli genetically competent? A gaze beyond the model organism

Jakobs

Meinhardt

2014

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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“…For this reason, we designed a series of peptides of 5, 7, 8, and 9 amino acids to test in these experiments. Most of these peptides are encoded in nprRB gene, and although SKPDT and SAPDT are not encoded, the first was previously described by Pottathil and Lazazzera (2003) as the signaling QS peptide of NprR receptor in B. thuringiensis, and previous reports indicate that it has an effect on sporulation and cry1Aa expression (Aceves-Diez et al 2007). Peptide SAPDT was tested because the signaling pentapeptides commonly have a positively charged amino acid at the second position (Pottathil and Lazazzera 2003), and therefore this peptide was not expected to be functional.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…We also assayed the peptide SKPDT, previously proposed as signaling peptide of NprR in B. thuringiensis (Pottathil and Lazazzera 2003;Aceves-Diez et al 2007) and not encoded in Bt8741. We found that SKPDT had no effect on sporulation.…”

Section: Effect Of Putative Synthetic Peptides On Sporulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…NprR was originally described as the activator of a neutral protease in Bacillus subtilis (Uehara et al 1979(Uehara et al , 1974. Recently, it was related to sporulation and extracellular protease activity in B. anthracis Sterne 7702 (Yang et al 2011) and also to cry genes transcription and sporulation in B. thuringiensis (Aceves-Diez et al 2007;Wang et al 2010). NprRB is the small protein that includes the mature signaling peptide of NprR (Pottathil and Lazazzera 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Evolution and some functions of the NprR–NprRB quorum-sensing system in the Bacillus cereus group

Rocha

Flores

Cabrera

et al. 2011

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol

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Quorum-sensing (QS) is a bacterial mechanism for regulation of gene expression in response to cell density. In Gram-positive bacteria, oligopeptides are the signaling molecules to elicit QS. The RNPP protein family (Rap, NprR, PlcR, and PrgX) are intracellular QS receptors that bind directly to their specific signaling peptide for regulating the transcription of several genes. NprR is the activator of a neutral protease in Bacillus subtilis, and it has been recently related to sporulation, cry genes transcription and extracellular protease activity in strains from the B. cereus group. In the B. thuringiensis genome, downstream nprR, a gene encoding a putative QS signaling propeptide (nprRB) was found. We hypothesized that the nprR and nprRB co-evolved because of their coordinated function in the B. cereus group. A phylogenetic tree of nucleotide sequences of nprR revealed six pherotypes, each corresponding to one putative mature NprRB sequence. The nprR tree does not match the current taxonomic grouping of the B. cereus group or the phylogenetic arrangement obtained when using MLST markers from the same strains. SKPDI and other synthetic peptides encoded in the nprRB gene from B. thuringiensis serovar thuringiensis strain 8741 had effect on temporal regulation of sporulation and expression of a cry1Aa'Z transcriptional fusion, but those peptides that stimulated earlier detection of spores decreased cry1Aa expression suggesting that NprR may either activate or repress the transcription of different genes.

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“…This can involve either the production of a fully functional polypeptide or a precursor which needs to be modified prior to its activation, as in the case of the Staphylococcus aureus AgrD1 autoinducer which needs cyclized (20). Perhaps the most well-known polypeptide autoinducer is the pentapeptide competence-stimulating factor of Bacillus subtilis, which controls the genetic competence pathway within this bacterium and also has a role in sporulation (25,26).…”

Section: Autoinducers and The Genetic Circuitmentioning

confidence: 99%