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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

High Throughput Co-culture Assays for the Investigation of Microbial Interactions
Published on: October 15, 2019
CotE binds to CotC and CotU and mediates their interaction during spore coat formation in Bacillus subtilis
Rachele Isticato1, Assunta Pelosi, Maurilio De Felice
1Department of Structural and Functional Biology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
Abstract:
CotE is a morphogenic protein that controls the assembly of the coat, the proteinaceous structure that surrounds and protects the spore of Bacillus subtilis. CotE has long been thought to interact with several outer coat components, but such interactions were hypothesized from genetic experiment results and have never been directly demonstrated. To study the interaction of CotE with other coat components, we focused our attention on CotC and CotU, two outer coat proteins known to be under CotE control and to form a heterodimer. We report here the results of pull-down experiments that provide the first direct evidence that CotE contacts other coat components. In addition, coexpression experiments demonstrate that CotE is needed and sufficient to allow formation of the CotC-CotU heterodimer in a heterologous host.
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