role of the gerp operon in germination and outgrowth of bacillus anthracis spores角色gerp的操纵子炭疽杆菌孢子的萌发和结果.pdfVIP

Role of the gerP Operon in Germination and Outgrowth of Bacillus anthracis Spores Katherine A. Carr, Brian K. Janes, Philip C. Hanna* Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America Abstract Germination of Bacillus anthracis spores occurs when nutrients such as amino acids or purine nucleosides stimulate specific germinant receptors located in the spore inner membrane. The gerPABCDEF operon has been suggested to play a role in facilitating the interaction between germinants and their receptors in spores of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus. B. anthracis mutants containing deletions in each of the six genes belonging to the orthologue of the gerPABCDEF operon, or deletion of the entire operon, were tested for their ability to germinate. Deletion of the entire gerP operon resulted in a significant delay in germination in response to nutrient germinants. These spores eventually germinated to levels equivalent to wild-type, suggesting that an additional entry point for nutrient germinants may exist. Deletions of each individual gene resulted in a similar phenotype, with the exception of DgerPF, which showed no obvious defect. The removal of two additional gerPF-like orthologues was necessary to achieve the germination defect observed for the other mutants. Upon physical removal of the spore coat, the mutant lacking the full gerP operon no longer exhibited a germination defect, suggesting that the GerP proteins play a role in spore coat permeability. Additionally, each of the gerP mutants exhibited a severe defect in calcium-dipicolinic acid (Ca-DPA)–dependent germination, suggesting a role for the GerP proteins in this process. Collectively, these data implicate all GerP proteins in the early