Representatives of the genus Micromonospora have so far been reported mainly from soil or, in the case of thermophiles, from composts. The type species, M. chalceae, described by ,2rskov (1923) who erected the genus, was first isolated by Foulerton (1905) under the name Streptothrix chalceae. This remained the only known strain among the Actinomycetes bearing the generic name Micromonospora unt...

The MADS-box transcription factor SrfA is involved in spore differentiation in Dictyostelium [Development 125 (1998) 3801]. Mutant spores show an altered morphology and loss of viability. A detailed structural analysis of mutant spores has been performed to gain insight into the specific aspects of spore differentiation in which SrfA is involved. Two main structural defects have been observed. ...

Clostridium difficile is the commonest cause of hospital-acquired infection in the United Kingdom. We characterized the abilities of 21 clinical isolates to form spores; to adhere to inorganic and organic surfaces, including stainless steel and human adenocarcinoma cells; and to germinate. The composition of culture media had a significant effect on spore formation, as significantly more spores...

A major goal in evolutionary biology is to understand how adaptive evolution has influenced natural variation, but identifying loci subject to positive selection has been a challenge. Here we present the adaptive loss of a pair of paralogous genes in specific Saccharomyces cerevisiae subpopulations. We mapped natural variation in freeze-thaw tolerance to two water transporters, AQY1 and AQY2, p...

The cell adhesion glycoproteins, TgrB1 and TgrC1, are essential for Dictyostelium development and allorecognition, but it has been impossible to determine whether their pleiotropic roles are due to one common function or to distinct functions in separate pathways. Mutations in the respective genes, tgrB1 and tgrC1, abrogate both development and allorecognition and the defects cannot be suppress...

Finding bacterial cellular targets for developing novel antibiotics has become a major challenge in fighting resistant pathogenic bacteria. We present a novel compound, Relacin, designed to inhibit (p)ppGpp production by the ubiquitous bacterial enzyme RelA that triggers the Stringent Response. Relacin inhibits RelA in vitro and reduces (p)ppGpp production in vivo. Moreover, Relacin affects ent...

The regulation of the Dictyostelium cell cycle has remained ambiguous owing to difficulties in long-term imaging of motile cells and a lack of markers for defining cell cycle phases. There is controversy over whether cells replicate their DNA during development, and whether spores are in G1 or G2 of the cell cycle. We have introduced a live-cell S-phase marker into Dictyostelium cells that allo...

Bacillus thuringiensis produces large amounts of various pesticidal proteins during the stationary phase. In order to achieve a high yield and form crystals, some pesticidal proteins require the presence of other proteins. Helper protein P20 is required for efficient production of both the Cyt1A and Cry11A crystal proteins in B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. Although full-length Cry1 protox...

AIM Understanding the basis for the heterogeneous (or bistable) expression patterns of competence development and sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. METHODS AND RESULTS Using flow cytometric analyses of various promoter-GFP fusions, we have determined the single-cell gene expression patterns of competence development and initiation of sporulation in a chemically defined medium (CDM) and in bio...

Haynes, W. C. (Northern Regional Research Laboratory, Peoria, Ill.), and Lenora J. Rhodes. Spore formation by Bacillus popilliae in liquid medium containing activated carbon. J. Bacteriol. 91:2270-2274. 1966.-Heretofore, it has not been found possible to evoke sporulation of Bacillus popilliae in liquid culture. We have discovered that sporulation will occur in tryptone-glucose-yeast extract br...