Transcriptional regulation of a Bacillus subtilis dipeptide transport operon

The Bacillus subtilis dciA operon, which encodes a dipeptide transport system, was induced rapidly by several conditions that caused the cells to enter stationary phase and initiate sporulation. The in vivo start point of transcription was mapped precisely and shown to correspond to a site of transcription initiation in vitro by the major vegetative form of RNA polymerase. Post-exponential expression was prevented by a mutation in the spo0A gene (whose product is a known regulator of early sporulation genes) but was restored in a spo0A abrB double mutant. This implicated AbrB, another known regulator, as a repressor of dciA. In fact, purified AbrB protein bound to a portion of the dciA promoter region, protecting it against DNase I digestion. Expression of dciA in growing cells was also repressed independently by glucose and by a mixture of amino acids; neither of these effects was mediated by AbrB.