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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Inducible and Reversible Dominant-negative (DN) Protein Inhibition
Published on: January 7, 2019
The Rok protein of Bacillus subtilis represses genes for cell surface and extracellular functions
Mark Albano1, Wiep Klaas Smits, Linh T Y Ho
1Public Health Research Institute, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
Abstract:
Rok is a repressor of the transcriptional activator ComK and is therefore an important regulator of competence in Bacillus subtilis (T. T. Hoa, P. Tortosa, M. Albano, and D. Dubnau, Mol. Microbiol. 43:15-26, 2002). To address the wider role of Rok in the physiology of B. subtilis, we have used a combination of transcriptional profiling, gel shift experiments, and the analysis of lacZ fusions. We demonstrate that Rok is a repressor of a family of genes that specify membrane-localized and secreted proteins, including a number of genes that encode products with antibiotic activity. We present evidence for the recent introduction of rok into the B. subtilis-Bacillus licheniformis-Bacilllus amyloliquefaciens group by horizontal transmission.
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