Fig. 1.
Two cannibalism operons are under the indirect control of AbbA. (A and B) AbbA is required for maximal expression of the sdpABC and skfABCDE operons. (A) Strains harbored amyE::Psdp-lacZ, and were either wild-type (♦; RL4264), or mutant for abbA (●; AB149). (B) Strains harbored amyE::Pskf-lacZ, and either were wild-type (♦; RL3554), or mutant for abbA (●; AB148). (C and D) An abrB mutation is epistatic to the effect of an abbA mutation on expression of the sdpABC and skfABCDE operons. (C) Strains harbored amyE::Psdp-lacZ, and were wild-type (♦; RL4264), mutant for abbA (●; AB149), harbored the overexpression construct Phyperspank-abbA (○; AB151), mutant for abrB (■; AB183), mutant for both abbA and abrB (▴; AB184), or mutant for abrB and harbored Phyperspank-abbA (Δ; AB182). (D) Strains harbored Pskf-lacZ, and were either wild-type (♦; RL3554), mutant for abbA (●; AB148), harbored Phyperspank-abbA (○; AB150), mutant for abrB (■; AB188), mutant for both abbA and abrB (▴; AB189), or mutant for abrB and harbored Phyperspank-abbA (Δ; AB190). Cells were grown in liquid DS medium; hour 0 of sporulation was the end of the exponential phase of growth. Expression of Phyperspank-abbA was induced by the addition of 1 mM (final concentration) IPTG to the medium.