SirA enforces diploidy by inhibiting the replication initiator DnaA during spore formation in Bacillus subtilis Academic Article

abstract

• How cells maintain their ploidy is relevant to cellular development and disease. Here, we investigate the mechanism by which the bacterium Bacillus subtilis enforces diploidy as it differentiates into a dormant spore. We demonstrate that a sporulation-induced protein SirA (originally annotated YneE) blocks new rounds of replication by targeting the highly conserved replication initiation factor DnaA. We show that SirA interacts with DnaA and displaces it from the replication origin. As a result, expression of SirA during growth rapidly blocks replication and causes cell death in a DnaA-dependent manner. Finally, cells lacking SirA over-replicate during sporulation. These results support a model in which induction of SirA enforces diploidy by inhibiting replication initiation as B. subtilis cells develop into spores.

authors

• Herman, Jennifer

altmetric score

• 1

author list (cited authors)

• Wagner, J. K., Marquis, K. A., & Rudner, D. Z.

citation count

• 57

publication date

• September 2009

publisher

• Wiley  Publisher

published in

• MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY  Journal

keywords

• Bacillus Subtilis
• Bacterial Proteins
• DNA-Binding Proteins
• Diploidy
• Gene Deletion
• Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
• Microscopy, Fluorescence
• Spores, Bacterial

PubMed Central ID

• 19682252

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2009.06825.x

start page

• 963

end page

• 974

volume

• 73

issue

• 5