Stage-specific in vitro expression of the Bacillus subtilis spoVE gene.

Abstract

Synthesis of the spo VE gene product (a 32 kilodalton protein) of Bacillus subtilis was studied using a DNA-directed protein-synthesizing system from B. subtilis. The spo VE gene product was synthesized specifically by T2 (2 hours after the end of logarithmic growth) cell extracts but not by vegetative cell extracts. A dot blot hybridization experiment with a spoVE-specific probe showed that the spoVE mRNA was synthesized by vegetative as well as by T2-cell extracts, and was present in most spo0 mutants. These results suggest that the transcription of the spoVE gene is not dependent on the spo0 gene function and the synthesis of the SpoVE protein is somehow controlled at the level of translation. Heterologous combination experiments using supernatant fractions from the vegetative and T2 cells, and ribosomes from the vegetative and T2 cells showed that T2-specific synthesis of the SpoVE protein is dependent on the T2-cell supernatant. The addition of the T2-cell supernatant to the vegetative cell extract i...