DegU

• Description: two-component response regulator, regulation of degradative enzyme and genetic competence, involved in activation of capsule biosynthetic operon expression (together with SwrAA), non-phosphorylated DegU is required for swarming motility PubMed
  
  

Gene name	degU
Synonyms	sacU, iep
Essential	no
Product	two-component response regulator
Function	regulation of degradative enzyme and genetic competence of genetic competence
MW, pI	25 kDa, 5.602
Gene length, protein length	687 bp, 229 aa
Immediate neighbours	yviA, degS
Get the DNA and protein sequences (Barbe et al., 2009)
Genetic context This image was kindly provided by SubtiList

The gene

Basic information

• Locus tag: BSU35490

Phenotypes of a mutant

• defect in biofilm formation PubMed

Database entries

• DBTBS entry: [1]

• SubtiList entry: [2]

The protein

Basic information/ Evolution

• Catalyzed reaction/ biological activity: transcription activator of degradative enzyme genes (sacB and degQ) and of comK expression

• Protein family:

• Paralogous protein(s):

Genes controlled by DegU

• Activation by DegU-P: degS-degU, capB-capC-capA-ywtC PubMed

• Activation by DegU: epr PubMed

• Repression by DegU-P: tkmA-ptkA-ptpZ-ugd PubMed

Extended information on the protein

• Kinetic information:

• Domains:

• Modification: phosphorylated by DegS on Asp-56 PubMed, this modulates DNA-binding activity

• Cofactor(s):

• Effectors of protein activity: DNA-binding activity of DegU is inhibited by RapG PubMed

• Interactions: DegU-RapG PubMed, DegS-DegU

• Localization: cytoplasm (according to Swiss-Prot)

Database entries

• Structure:

• UniProt: P13800

• KEGG entry: [3]

• E.C. number:

Additional information

• DegU-P is degraded by ClpC-ClpP PubMed

Expression and regulation

• Operon:
  • degS-degU PubMed
  • degU PubMed

• Sigma factor:
  • degS: SigA PubMed
  • degU: SigA PubMed

• Regulation:
  • induced in the presence of ammonium (TnrA) PubMed

• Regulatory mechanism:
  • DegU: positive autoregulation PubMed
  • TnrA: transcription repression PubMed

• Additional information:
• DegU-P is degraded by ClpC-ClpP PubMed

Biological materials

• Mutant:

• Expression vector:

• lacZ fusion:

• GFP fusion:

• two-hybrid system:

• Antibody:

References

Reviews

Daniel López, Roberto Kolter
Extracellular signals that define distinct and coexisting cell fates in Bacillus subtilis.
FEMS Microbiol Rev: 2010, 34(2);134-49
[PubMed:20030732] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (I p)

Ewan J Murray, Taryn B Kiley, Nicola R Stanley-Wall
A pivotal role for the response regulator DegU in controlling multicellular behaviour.
Microbiology (Reading): 2009, 155(Pt 1);1-8
[PubMed:19118340] [WorldCat.org] [DOI] (P p)