EFFECTS OF SPOO MUTATIONS ON SPOOA PROMOTER SWITCHING AT THE INITIATION OF SPORULATION IN BACILLUS-SUBTILIS

Transcriptional analyses of the Bacillus subtilis sporulation initiato r gene spo0A revealed that promoter switching from the vegetative (Pv) to the sporulation-specific (Ps) promoter did not occur in the spo0A, spo0B, spo0E, spo0F, and spo0H mutants. The sof-1 mutation in spo0A r estored the promoter switching in the spo0F mutant. These results stro ngly suggest that Spo0A plays a central role in the regulation of its own promoter switching.