The rate at which entire microbial genomes are being sequenced has accelerated rapidly over the past two years, promising to revolutionise our understanding of microbial molecular biology and genetics. The Bacillus subtilis genome sequence is the first complete genome of a free-living soil and rhizosphere bacterium. Data derived from the genome sequence and the systematic functional analysis pr...

The set of sensor kinase YycG and response regulator YycF is the only essential two-component system (TCS) in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. We have developed a screening method for antibacterial agents that inhibit YycG, the essential histidine kinase (HK). To increase screening sensitivity, a temperature-sensitive yycF mutant (CNM2000) of B. subtilis with super-sensitivity to HK...

A thorough examination of cotransformation of two unlinked genetic markers in Bacillus subtilis 168 shows that the two recombinational events do not occur randomly. The cotransformation frequency is dependent on the distance between the two markers as well as on the order in which they replicate in the competent cell. These results indicate that uptake and/or integration of DNA molecules bearin...

BACKGROUND Sublancin is a novel and distinct antimicrobial glycopeptide that can be used as an alternative to conventional antibiotics. The reported production of sublancin by Bacillus subtilis 168 is poor because transcriptional regulatory circuit of sunA, a gene that encodes presublancin, is complex and difficult to control. RESULTS A strong inducible and easy to control vegetative σA promo...

Flagellation in Bacillus subtilis was shown to involve at least three loci: a gene H controlling the specificity of the flagellar antigen; a gene fla controlling the presence or absence of flagella; and a gene mot controlling the function of the flagella. The loci were shown to be nonallelic and unlinked in transformation tests. Strains W 23 and SB 108-b, a derivative of strain 168, were shown ...