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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Single-cell Analysis of Bacillus subtilis Biofilms Using Fluorescence Microscopy and Flow Cytometry
Published on: February 15, 2012
A widely conserved gene cluster required for lactate utilization in Bacillus subtilis and its involvement in biofilm
Yunrong Chai1, Roberto Kolter, Richard Losick
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Losick@mcb.harvard.edu
Abstract:
We report that catabolism of l-lactate in Bacillus subtilis depends on the previously uncharacterized yvfV-yvfW-yvbY (herein renamed lutABC) operon, which is inferred to encode three iron-sulfur-containing proteins. The operon is under the dual control of a GntR-type repressor (LutR, formerly YvfI) and the master regulator for biofilm formation SinR and is induced during growth in response to l-lactate. Operons with high similarity to lutABC are present in the genomes of a variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, raising the possibility that LutABC is a widely conserved and previously unrecognized pathway for the utilization of l-lactate or related metabolites.
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