More than a transcription factor: Spo0A mediates phenotypic heterogeneity and controls replication in Bacillus subtilis
PhD ceremony: Ms. I.G. de Jong, 11.00 uur, Aula Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen
Dissertation: More than a transcription factor: Spo0A mediates phenotypic heterogeneity and controls replication in Bacillus subtilis
Promotor(s): prof. O.P. Kuipers
Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences
The soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis is widely used as a model organism for cellular differentiation. One of the key regulators for cellular differentiation is Spo0A. The thesis of Imke de Jong focuses on phenotypic heterogeneity (cell-to-cell differences) of stress pathways affected by Spo0A. She provides the first study in which motility, competence development, exoprotease production, predation, cannibalism, sporulation as well as the nutritional status can be compared at the population and the single cell level. Her data show that each stress pathway is subject to phenotypic heterogeneity and that the level of heterogeneity varies in time. Interestingly, it seems that it is not the pre-adapted cells that contribute most to survival of a bacterial population in fluctuating environments, but that it is rather the non-adapted, high-energy cells that ensure survival when challenged with a new stress. Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy experiments show that heterogeneity in sporulation is caused by differences in the timing of expression of genes required for the activation of Spo0A. Since time-lapse fluorescence microscopy is tricky and difficult to learn, De Jongs thesis also includes a step-by-step protocol in written format and as a movie recorded by a professional film team. Besides being a transcription factor, Spo0A was suggested to inhibit DNA replication by binding to the orgin of replication (oriC). De Jong investigated this hypothesis and shows that mothercells which lack Spo0A-binding sequences in the oriC region over-replicate. Spores isolated from these strains show increased heterogeneity in germination and outgrowth and produce less offspring compared to wild type spores.
Last modified: | 13 March 2020 01.12 a.m. |
More news
-
25 March 2024
Gravitation grant on plant mechanical properties for better crops
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has awarded a Gravitation grant to the Green Tissue Engineering research programme, of which professor Marleen Kamperman, from the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials
-
25 March 2024
Gravitation grant for electrochemical processes large-scale energy transition
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has awarded a Gravitation grant to ANION, the research programme that Professor Moniek Tromp of the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (Faculty of Science and Engineering, UG) is a partner in....
-
20 March 2024
NWO M-1 grants for Roos and Poolman
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded M-1 grants in the Exact and Natural Sciences domain to Prof. Wouter Roos and Prof. Bert Poolman of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (RUG).