The TRAP-like SplA protein is a trans-acting negative regulator of spore photoproduct lyase synthesis during Bacillus subtilis sporulation

UV resistance of bacterial endospores derives from a unique DNA photochemistry in which the major UV photoproduct is the thymine dimer 5-thyminyl-5,6-dihydrothymine (spore photoproduct [SP]) instead of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers. Repair of SP during spore germination is due in large part to the activity of the enzyme SP lyase encoded by splB, the second cistron of the spL4B operon. Expression of the splAB operon in Bacillus subtilis is transcriptionally activated by the E alpha(G) form of RNA polymerase during morphological stage III in the developing forespore compartment, and SP lyase is packaged into the dormant spore. In addition to temporal and compartmental control of spL4B expression, a second regulatory circuit which modulates the level of expression of splB-lacZ fusions without altering their developmental timing or compartmentalization is reported here. This second regulatory circuit involves the negative action of the splA gene product, a 79-amino-acid protein with approximately 50% similarity and 17% identity to TRAP, the tryptophan RNA-binding attenuation protein from B. subtilis and Bacillus pumilus.