CODY IS REQUIRED FOR NUTRITIONAL REPRESSION OF BACILLUS-SUBTILIS GENETIC COMPETENCE

The acquisition of genetic competence by Bacillus subtilis is represse d when the growth medium contains Casamino Acids. This repression was shown to be exerted at the level of expression from the promoters of t he competence-regulatory genes srfA and comK and was relieved in strai ns carrying a null mutation in the codY gene. DNase I footprinting exp eriments showed that purified CodY binds directly to the srfA and comK promoter regions.