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Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness

Bacillus subtilis develops genetic competence for the uptake of foreign DNA when cells enter stationary phase and a high cell density is reached. These signals are integrated by the competence transcription factor ComK, which is subject to transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational...

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Autores principales: Benda, Martin, Schulz, Lisa Maria, Stülke, Jörg, Rismondo, Jeanine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060467/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897624
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.587035
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author Benda, Martin
Schulz, Lisa Maria
Stülke, Jörg
Rismondo, Jeanine
author_facet Benda, Martin
Schulz, Lisa Maria
Stülke, Jörg
Rismondo, Jeanine
author_sort Benda, Martin
collection PubMed
description Bacillus subtilis develops genetic competence for the uptake of foreign DNA when cells enter stationary phase and a high cell density is reached. These signals are integrated by the competence transcription factor ComK, which is subject to transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation. Many proteins are involved in the development of competence, both to control ComK activity and to mediate DNA uptake. However, for many proteins, the precise function they play in competence development is unknown. In this study, we assessed whether proteins required for genetic transformation play a role in the activation of ComK or rather act downstream of competence gene expression. While these possibilities could be distinguished for most of the tested factors, we assume that two proteins, PNPase and the transcription factor YtrA, are required both for full ComK activity and for the downstream processes of DNA uptake and integration. Further analyses of the role of the transcription factor YtrA for the competence development revealed that the overexpression of the YtrBCDEF ABC transporter in the ytrA mutant causes the loss of genetic competence. Moreover, overexpression of this ABC transporter also affects biofilm formation. Since the ytrGABCDEF operon is naturally induced by cell wall-targeting antibiotics, we tested the cell wall properties upon overexpression of the ABC transporter and observed an increased thickness of the cell wall. The composition and properties of the cell wall are important for competence development and biofilm formation, suggesting that the observed phenotypes are the result of the increased cell wall thickness as an outcome of YtrBCDEF overexpression.
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spelling pubmed-80604672021-04-23 Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness Benda, Martin Schulz, Lisa Maria Stülke, Jörg Rismondo, Jeanine Front Microbiol Microbiology Bacillus subtilis develops genetic competence for the uptake of foreign DNA when cells enter stationary phase and a high cell density is reached. These signals are integrated by the competence transcription factor ComK, which is subject to transcriptional, post-transcriptional and post-translational regulation. Many proteins are involved in the development of competence, both to control ComK activity and to mediate DNA uptake. However, for many proteins, the precise function they play in competence development is unknown. In this study, we assessed whether proteins required for genetic transformation play a role in the activation of ComK or rather act downstream of competence gene expression. While these possibilities could be distinguished for most of the tested factors, we assume that two proteins, PNPase and the transcription factor YtrA, are required both for full ComK activity and for the downstream processes of DNA uptake and integration. Further analyses of the role of the transcription factor YtrA for the competence development revealed that the overexpression of the YtrBCDEF ABC transporter in the ytrA mutant causes the loss of genetic competence. Moreover, overexpression of this ABC transporter also affects biofilm formation. Since the ytrGABCDEF operon is naturally induced by cell wall-targeting antibiotics, we tested the cell wall properties upon overexpression of the ABC transporter and observed an increased thickness of the cell wall. The composition and properties of the cell wall are important for competence development and biofilm formation, suggesting that the observed phenotypes are the result of the increased cell wall thickness as an outcome of YtrBCDEF overexpression. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8060467/ /pubmed/33897624 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.587035 Text en Copyright © 2021 Benda, Schulz, Stülke and Rismondo. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Benda, Martin
Schulz, Lisa Maria
Stülke, Jörg
Rismondo, Jeanine
Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title_full Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title_fullStr Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title_full_unstemmed Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title_short Influence of the ABC Transporter YtrBCDEF of Bacillus subtilis on Competence, Biofilm Formation and Cell Wall Thickness
title_sort influence of the abc transporter ytrbcdef of bacillus subtilis on competence, biofilm formation and cell wall thickness
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8060467/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33897624
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.587035
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