Control of potassium homeostasis is an essential function of the second messenger cyclic di-AMP in Bacillus subtilis
- 18 April 2017
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science Signaling
- Vol. 10 (475)
- https://doi.org/10.1126/scisignal.aal3011
Abstract
The second messenger cyclic di–adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) is essential in the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis and in related pathogenic bacteria. It controls the activity of the conserved ydaO riboswitch and of several proteins involved in potassium (K+) uptake. We found that the YdaO protein was conserved among several different bacteria and provide evidence that YdaO functions as a K+ transporter. Thus, we renamed the gene and protein KimA (K+ importer A). Reporter activity assays indicated that expression beyond the c-di-AMP–responsive riboswitch of the kimA upstream regulatory region occurred only in bacteria grown in medium containing low K+ concentrations. Furthermore, mass spectrometry analysis indicated that c-di-AMP accumulated in bacteria grown in the presence of high K+ concentrations but not in low concentrations. A bacterial strain lacking all genes encoding c-di-AMP–synthesizing enzymes was viable when grown in medium containing low K+ concentrations, but not at higher K+ concentrations unless it acquired suppressor mutations in the gene encoding the cation exporter NhaK. Thus, our results indicated that the control of potassium homeostasis is an essential function of c-di-AMP.Keywords
Funding Information
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (award301666, CO 1139/2-1)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (award301665, STU214/16-1)
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