Genetic evidence that multiple proteases are involved in modulation of heat-induced activation of the sigma factor SigI in Bacillus subtilis.

The Bacillus subtilis sigI-rsgI operon encodes the heat-inducible sigma factor SigI and its cognate anti-sigma factor RsgI. The heat-activated SigI positively regulates expression of sigI itself and genes involved in cell wall homeostasis and heat resistance. It remains unknown which protease(s) may contribute to degradation of RsgI and heat-induced activation of SigI. In this study, we found that transcription of sigI from its σI-dependent promoter under heat stress was downregulated in a strain lacking the heat-inducible sigma factor SigB. Deletion of protease-relevant clpP, clpC or rasP severely impaired sigI expression during heat stress, whereas deletion of clpE partially impaired sigI expression. Complementation of mutations with corresponding intact genes restored sigI expression. In a null mutant of rsgI, SigI was activated and sigI expression was strongly upregulated during normal growth and under heat stress. In this rsgI mutant, further inactivation of rasP or clpE did not affect sigI expression, whereas further inactivation of clpP or clpC severely or partially impaired sigI expression. Spx negatively influenced sigI expression during heat stress. Possible implications are discussed. Given that clpC, clpP and spx are directly regulated by SigB, SigB appears to control sigI expression under heat stress via ClpC, ClpP and Spx.

The heat-inducible essential response regulator WalR positively regulates transcription of sigI, mreBH and lytE in Bacillus subtilis under heat stress.

The actin homolog MreBH governs cell morphogenesis of Bacillus subtilis through localization of the cell wall hydrolase LytE. The alternative sigma factor SigI of B. subtilis coordinately regulates transcription of mreBH and lytE. Transcription of sigI, mreBH and lytE is heat-inducible. The essential response regulator WalR (YycF) plays a key role in coordinating cell wall metabolism with cell proliferation. We now demonstrate that mreBH is a new member of the WalR regulon. We also found that WalR can positively and directly regulate sigI transcription under heat stress through a binding site located upstream of the σ(I) promoter of sigI. In addition, we found that a WalR binding site located upstream of the SigI binding site in the regulatory region of lytE is important for lytE expression under heat stress. Moreover, we found that walR is a new member of the heat shock stimulon of B. subtilis. WalR appears to coordinately and positively regulate transcription of sigI, mreBH and lytE under heat stress. Finally, our work shows for the first time that WalR can stimulate activities of σ(I) promoters under heat stress.