ArticleMolecular microbiology2017
The Bacillus subtilis germinant receptor GerA triggers premature germination in response to morphological defects during sporulation.
Article in Molecular microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Draft Genome Sequence ofMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Resistance and germination of spores ofJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Amino Acids From Root Exudates Induce Bacillus Spore Germination to Enhance Root Colonisation and Plant Growth Promotion.Microbial biotechnology · 2025Article
- Germination ofJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- L-Alanine promotes anti-infectious properties of Bacillus subtilis S-2 spores via the germination receptor gerAA.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2024Article
- Catabolism of germinant amino acids is required to prevent premature spore germination inmBio · 2024Article
- Bacterial spore germination receptors are nutrient-gated ion channels.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Glutamate catabolism during sporulation determines the success of the future spore germination.iScience · 2022Article
- The SpoVA membrane complex is required for dipicolinic acid import during sporulation and export during germination.Genes & development · 2022Article
- Genetic Evidence for Signal Transduction within the Bacillus subtilis GerA Germinant Receptor.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Bacterial developmental checkpoint that directly monitors cell surface morphogenesis.Developmental cell · 2022Article
- The bacterial tyrosine kinase system CpsBCD governs the length of capsule polymers.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Article
- Pervasive prophage recombination occurs during evolution of spore-forming Bacilli.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Electrical Polarization Enables Integrative Quality Control during Bacterial Differentiation into Spores.iScience · 2019Article
- A two-step transport pathway allows the mother cell to nurture the developing spore in Bacillus subtilis.PLoS genetics · 2017Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
During sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, germinant receptors assemble in the inner membrane of the developing spore. In response to specific nutrients, these receptors trigger germination and outgrowth. In a transposon-sequencing screen, we serendipitously discovered that loss of function mutations in the gerA receptor partially suppress the phenotypes of > 25 sporulation mutants. Most of these mutants have modest defects in the assembly of the spore protective layers that are exacerbated in the presence of a functional GerA receptor. Several lines of evidence indicate that these mutants inappropriately trigger the activation of GerA during sporulation resulting in premature germination. These findings led us to discover that up to 8% of wild-type sporulating cells trigger premature germination during differentiation in a GerA-dependent manner. This phenomenon was observed in domesticated and undomesticated wild-type strains sporulating in liquid and on solid media. Our data indicate that the GerA receptor is poised on a knife's edge during spore development. We propose that this sensitized state ensures a rapid response to nutrient availability and also elicits premature germination of spores with improperly assembled protective layers resulting in the elimination of even mildly defective individuals from the population.
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