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. 1990 Dec;172(12):6930–6936. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.12.6930-6936.1990

The spoIIIA locus is not a major determinant of prespore-specific gene expression during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.

N Illing 1, J Errington 1
PMCID: PMC210812  PMID: 2123858

Abstract

During sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, expression of several prespore-specific genes is strongly dependent on the spoIIIE and spoIIIG gene products. Previous reports have also indicated a requirement for the products of the spoIIIA locus. However, we have now systematically studied six different well-defined spoIIIA mutations and find that, relative to spoIIIE and spoIIIG mutations, they have only a minor effect on the expression of two different prespore-specific genes, spoVA and sspA. Moreover, we have shown that strain IS37, which has been used as a spoIIIA mutant in several previous studies, actually contains a lesion in the spo0A gene. We conclude that spoIIIA has a relatively minor or indirect role in the regulation of prespore-specific gene expression.

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Selected References

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