SkfA

• Description: spore killing factor
  
  

Gene name	skfA
Synonyms	ybcO
Essential	no
Product	spore killing factor
Function	killing of sister cells
Gene expression levels in SubtiExpress: skfA
Interactions involving this protein in SubtInteract: SkfA
MW, pI	5 kDa, 10.648
Gene length, protein length	165 bp, 55 aa
Immediate neighbours	ybcM, skfB
Sequences	Protein DNA DNA_with_flanks
Genetic context This image was kindly provided by SubtiList
Expression at a glance   PubMed

Categories containing this gene/protein

toxins, antitoxins and immunity against toxins, prophage 1

This gene is a member of the following regulons

AbrB regulon, PhoP regulon, Spo0A regulon

The gene

Basic information

• Locus tag: BSU01910

Database entries

• BsubCyc: BSU01910

• DBTBS entry: [1]

• SubtiList entry: [2]

The protein

Basic information/ Evolution

• Catalyzed reaction/ biological activity:

• Protein family:

• Paralogous protein(s):

Extended information on the protein

• Kinetic information:

• Domains:

• Modification: the mature SKF is cyclic 26-amino acid peptide that is posttranslationally modified with one disulfide and one cysteine thioether bridged to the alpha-position of a methionine PubMed, the thioether bond is generated by SkfB PubMed

• Cofactor(s):

• Effectors of protein activity:

• Interactions:
  • SkfA-SkfB PubMed

• Localization: secreted (according to Swiss-Prot)

Database entries

• BsubCyc: BSU01910

• Structure:

• UniProt: O31422

• KEGG entry: [3]

• E.C. number:

Expression and regulation

• Operon: skfA-skfB-skfC-skfE-skfF-skfG-skfH PubMed

• Expression browser: skfA PubMed

• Sigma factor: SigA PubMed

• Regulation:
  • repressed by glucose (33-fold) PubMed
  • expressed under conditions that trigger sporulation (Spo0A) PubMed
  • repressed during logrithmic growth (AbrB) PubMed
  • induced by phosphate starvation (PhoP) PubMed
  • induced by rhamnogalacturonan PubMed

• Regulatory mechanism:
  • Spo0A: transcription activation PubMed
  • AbrB: transcription repression PubMed
  • PhoP: transcription activation PubMed

• Additional information:
  • Northern blotting during during phosphate limitation showed an intense 0.25 kb skfA-specific transcript, and a weaker 6.5 kb skfA-skfB-skfC-skfE-skfF-skfG-skfH transcript.
  • The skfA transcript is stabilized by a stem-loop structure in the skfA-skfB intergenic region. PubMed
  • The mRNA is very stable (half-life > 15 min) PubMed

Biological materials

• Mutant:

• Expression vector:

• lacZ fusion:

• GFP fusion:
  • GP1645 ymdB::spc skf-gfp (spc) in the NCIB3610 background, available in Jörg Stülke's lab

• two-hybrid system:

• Antibody:

References

Reviews

José Eduardo González-Pastor
Cannibalism: a social behavior in sporulating Bacillus subtilis.
FEMS Microbiol Rev: 2011, 35(3);415-24
[PubMed:20955377] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)

Original Publications

Additional publications: PubMed