Dormant spores sense amino acids through the B subunits of their germination receptors

Lior Artzi, Assaf Alon, Kelly P. Brock, Anna G. Green, Amy Tam, Fernando H. Ramírez-Guadiana, Debora Marks, Andrew Kruse and David Z. Rudner ()
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Lior Artzi: Harvard Medical School
Assaf Alon: Harvard Medical School
Kelly P. Brock: Harvard Medical School
Anna G. Green: Harvard Medical School
Amy Tam: Harvard Medical School
Fernando H. Ramírez-Guadiana: Harvard Medical School
Debora Marks: Harvard Medical School
Andrew Kruse: Harvard Medical School
David Z. Rudner: Harvard Medical School

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Bacteria from the orders Bacillales and Clostridiales differentiate into stress-resistant spores that can remain dormant for years, yet rapidly germinate upon nutrient sensing. How spores monitor nutrients is poorly understood but in most cases requires putative membrane receptors. The prototypical receptor from Bacillus subtilis consists of three proteins (GerAA, GerAB, GerAC) required for germination in response to L-alanine. GerAB belongs to the Amino Acid-Polyamine-Organocation superfamily of transporters. Using evolutionary co-variation analysis, we provide evidence that GerAB adopts a structure similar to an L-alanine transporter from this superfamily. We show that mutations in gerAB predicted to disrupt the ligand-binding pocket impair germination, while mutations predicted to function in L-alanine recognition enable spores to respond to L-leucine or L-serine. Finally, substitutions of bulkier residues at these positions cause constitutive germination. These data suggest that GerAB is the L-alanine sensor and that B subunits in this broadly conserved family function in nutrient detection.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27235-2

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