Defect in the formation of 70S ribosomes caused by lack of ribosomal protein L34 can be suppressed by magnesium.

To elucidate the biological functions of the ribosomal protein L34, which is encoded by the rpmH gene, the rpmH deletion mutant of Bacillus subtilis and two suppressor mutants were characterized. Although the ΔrpmH mutant exhibited a severe slow-growth phenotype, additional mutations in the yhdP or mgtE gene restored the growth rate of the ΔrpmH strain. Either the disruption of yhdP, which is thought to be involved in the efflux of Mg(2+), or overexpression of mgtE, which plays a major role in the import of Mg(2+), could suppress defects in both the formation of the 70S ribosome and growth caused by the absence of L34. Interestingly, the Mg(2+) content was lower in the ΔrpmH cells than in the wild type, and the Mg(2+) content in the ΔrpmH cells was restored by either the disruption of yhdP or overexpression of mgtE. In vitro experiments on subunit association demonstrated that 50S subunits that lacked L34 could form 70S ribosomes only at a high concentration of Mg(2+). These results showed that L34 is required for efficient 70S ribosome formation and that L34 function can be restored partially by Mg(2+). In addition, the Mg(2+) content was consistently lower in mutants that contained significantly reduced amounts of the 70S ribosome, such as the ΔrplA (L1) and ΔrplW (L23) strains and mutant strains with a reduced number of copies of the rrn operon. Thus, the results indicated that the cellular Mg(2+) content is influenced by the amount of 70S ribosomes.

Single mutations introduced in the essential ribosomal proteins L3 and S10 cause a sporulation defect in Bacillus subtilis.

We introduced single mutations into the rplC and rpsJ genes, which encode the essential ribosomal proteins L3 (RplC) and S10 (RpsJ), respectively, and are located in the S10 gene cluster of the gram-positive, endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis, and examined whether these mutations affected their growth rate, sporulation, competence development and 70S ribosome formation. Mutant cells harboring the G52D mutation in the L3 ribosomal protein, which is located at the peptidyl transferase center of 50S, accumulated 30S subunit at 45°C, probably due to a defect in 50S formation, and exhibited a reduction in the sporulation frequency at high temperature. On the other hand, mutant cells harboring the H56R mutation in the S10 protein, which is located near the aminoacyl-tRNA site of 30S, showed severe growth defect and deficiency in spore formation, and also exhibited significant delay in competence development.