Benchmarking various green fluorescent protein variants in Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Lactococcus lactis for live cell imaging.

University of Groningen Benchmarking Various Green Fluorescent Protein Variants in Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Lactococcus lactis for Live Cell Imaging Overkamp, Wout; Beilharz, Katrin; Weme,

Optimization of Fluorescent Tools for Cell Biology Studies in Gram-Positive Bacteria

The understanding of how Gram-positive bacteria divide and ensure the correct localization of different molecular machineries, such as those involved in the synthesis of the bacterial cell surface, is crucial to design strategies to fight bacterial infections. In order to determine the correct subcellular localization of fluorescent proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae, we have previously descr...

Comparative analysis of gene expression among low G+C gram-positive genomes.

We present a comparative analysis of predicted highly expressed (PHX) genes in the low G+C Gram-positive genomes of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus halodurans, Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium acetobutylicum, and Clostridium perfringens. Most enzymes acting in glycolysis and fermentatio...

The peptidyl-prolyl isomerase motif is lacking in PmpA, the PrsA-like protein involved in the secretion machinery of Lactococcus lactis.

The prsA-like gene from Lactococcus lactis encoding its single homologue to PrsA, an essential protein triggering the folding of secreted proteins in Bacillus subtilis, was characterized. This gene, annotated pmpA, encodes a lipoprotein of 309 residues whose expression is increased 7- to 10-fold when the source of nitrogen is limited. A slight increase in the expression of the PrsA-like protein...

Zirex: a novel zinc-regulated expression system for Lactococcus lactis.

Here, we report a new zinc-inducible expression system for Lactococcus lactis, called Zirex, consisting of the pneumococcal repressor SczA and PczcD. PczcD tightly regulates the expression of green fluorescent protein in L. lactis. We show the applicability of Zirex together with the nisin-controlled expression system, enabling simultaneous but independent regulation of different genes.