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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1993 Mar 15;90(6):2325–2329. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.6.2325

SpoIIAB is an anti-sigma factor that binds to and inhibits transcription by regulatory protein sigma F from Bacillus subtilis.

L Duncan 1, R Losick 1
PMCID: PMC46079  PMID: 8460142

Abstract

The sigma F factor is a regulatory protein that is responsible for directing gene expression in the forespore compartment of developing cells of the spore-forming soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The sigma F factor is encoded by the promoter-distal member of sporulation operon spoIIA, which consists of cistrons called spoIIAA, spoIIAB, and spoIIAC. Genetic evidence indicates that the activity of sigma F is negatively regulated by the product (SpoIIAB) of the spoIIAB cistron. We now report that SpoIIAB is capable of binding to sigma F and inhibiting its capacity to direct transcription by core RNA polymerase from the promoter for a forespore-expressed gene. SpoIIAB is an anti-sigma factor that may be directly involved in the compartmentalization of sigma F-directed gene expression.

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Selected References

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