Transcriptional analysis of three Bacillus subtilis genes coding for proteins with the α-crystallin domain characteristic of small heat shock proteins

In silico analysis of the complete Bacillus subtilis genome revealed the presence of three genes whose deduced amino acid sequences exhibit an alpha -crystallin domain characteristic for the family of small heat shock proteins: cotM (which has already been identified [Henriques et al. (1997) J. Bacteriol 179, 1587-1897]), yocM, and cotP (formerly ydfT). Analysis of the expression of all three genes by slot-blot experiments and by transcriptional fusions revealed that none of them was heat-inducible. Transcription of cotP was induced late during sporulation by the sporulation-specific sigma factor sigma (K) and negatively controlled by the GerE repressor. No expression of the yocM gene was found under all standard laboratory conditions tested. Both a cotP knockout mutant as well as a cotM cotP double knockout turned out to be viable and form spores and exhibited no germination defect. (C) 2001 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.