This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Westers, H. Articles by Quax, W. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Westers, H. Articles by Quax, W. J. Agricola Articles by Westers, H. Articles by Quax, W. J.

Genes Involved in SkfA Killing Factor Production Protect a Bacillus subtilis Lipase against Proteolysis

Helga Westers,^1,2, Peter G. Braun,^1, Lidia Westers,¹ Haike Antelmann,³ Michael Hecker,³ Jan D. H. Jongbloed,² Hirofumi Yoshikawa,⁴ Teruo Tanaka,⁵ Jan Maarten van Dijl,^1* and Wim J. Quax¹

Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, Groningen,¹ Department of Genetics, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, Haren, The Netherlands,² Institut für Mikrobiologie und Molekularbiologie, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany,³ Department of Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo,⁴ Department of Marine Science, School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, Shimizuorido, Shizuoka, Japan⁵

Received 13 May 2004/ Accepted 11 November 2004

Small lipases of Bacillus species, such as LipA from Bacillus subtilis, have a high potential for industrial applications. Recent studies showed that deletion of six AT-rich islands from the B. subtilis genome results in reduced amounts of extracellular LipA. Here we demonstrate that the reduced LipA levels are due to the absence of four genes, skfABCD, located in the prophage 1 region. Intact skfABCD genes are required not only for LipA production at wild-type levels by B. subtilis 168 but also under conditions of LipA overproduction. Notably, SkfA has bactericidal activity and, probably, requires the SkfB to SkfD proteins for its production. The present results show that LipA is more prone to proteolytic degradation in the absence of SkfA and that high-level LipA production can be improved significantly by employing multiple protease-deficient B. subtilis strains. In conclusion, our findings imply that SkfA protects LipA, directly or indirectly, against proteolytic degradation. Conceivably, SkfA could act as a modulator in LipA folding or as a protease inhibitor.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hayashi, K., Ohsawa, T., Kobayashi, K., Ogasawara, N., Ogura, M. (2005). The H2O2 Stress-Responsive Regulator PerR Positively Regulates srfA Expression in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 187: 6659-6667 [Abstract] [Full Text]