Pulcherrimin protects Bacillus subtilis against oxidative stress during biofilm development

Pulcherrimin is an iron-binding reddish pigment produced by various bacterial and yeast species. In the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis, this pigment is synthesized intracellularly as the colorless pulcherriminic acid by using two molecules of tRNA-charged leucine as the substrate; pulcherriminic acid molecules are then secreted and bind to ferric iron extracellularly to form the red-colored pigment pulcherrimin. The biological importance of pulcherrimin is not well understood. A previous study showed that secretion of pulcherrimin caused iron depletion in the surroundings and growth arrest on cells located at the edge of a B. subtilis colony biofilm. In this study, we identified that pulcherrimin is primarily produced under biofilm conditions and provides protection to cells in the biofilm against oxidative stress. We presented molecular evidence on how pulcherrimin lowers the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and alleviates oxidative stress and DNA damage caused by ROS accumulation in a mature biofilm. We also performed global transcriptome profiling to identify differentially expressed genes in the pulcherrimin-deficient mutant compared with the wild type, and further characterized the regulation of genes by pulcherrimin that are related to iron homeostasis, DNA damage response (DDR), and oxidative stress response. Based on our findings, we propose pulcherrimin as an important antioxidant that modulates B. subtilis biofilm development.