Plasmid-Encoded ComI Inhibits Competence in the Ancestral 3610 Strain of Bacillus subtilis
- 8 July 2013
- journal article
- Published by American Society for Microbiology in Journal of Bacteriology
- Vol. 195 (18), 4085-4093
- https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00696-13
Abstract
Natural competence is a process by which bacteria construct a membrane-associated machine for the uptake and integration of exogenous DNA. Many bacteria harbor genes for the DNA uptake machinery and yet are recalcitrant to DNA uptake for unknown reasons. For example, domesticated laboratory strains of Bacillus subtilis are renowned for high-frequency natural transformation, but the ancestral B. subtilis strain NCIB3610 is poorly competent. Here we find that endogenous plasmid pBS32 encodes a small protein, ComI, that inhibits transformation in the 3610 strain. ComI is a single-pass trans-membrane protein that appears to functionally inhibit the competence DNA uptake machinery. Functional inhibition of transformation may be common, and abolishing such inhibitors could be the key to permitting convenient genetic manipulation of a variety of industrially and medically relevant bacteria.Keywords
This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Three-Layered DNA Uptake Machinery at the Cell Pole in Competent Bacillus subtilis Cells Is a Stable ComplexJournal of Bacteriology, 2011
- Gene position in a long operon governs motility development in Bacillus subtilisMolecular Microbiology, 2010
- The c-di-GMP Binding Protein YcgR Controls Flagellar Motor Direction and Speed to Affect Chemotaxis by a “Backstop Brake” MechanismMolecular Cell, 2010
- Second Messenger-Mediated Adjustment of Bacterial Swimming VelocityCell, 2010
- A molecular brake, not a clutch, stops the Rhodobacter sphaeroides flagellar motorProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- The Origins of 168, W23, and Other Bacillus subtilis Legacy StrainsJournal of Bacteriology, 2008
- Bacillus subtilis Genome DiversityJournal of Bacteriology, 2007
- The identification of bacillaene, the product of the PksX megacomplex in Bacillus subtilisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2007
- DNA segregation by the bacterial actin AlfA during Bacillus subtilis growth and developmentThe EMBO Journal, 2006
- TRANSFORMATION OF BIOCHEMICALLY DEFICIENT STRAINS OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS BY DEOXYRIBONUCLEATEProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1958