Related Experiment Videos
A Bacillus subtilis gene encoding a protein similar to nucleotide sugar transferases influences cell shape and
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Bacillus subtilis gene ypfP, which is located at 196 degrees on the genetic map, shows similarity to both the monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase gene of Cucumis sativus, which encodes a galactosyltransferase, and the murG genes of B. subtilis, Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, and Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803, which encode N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases involved in peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Cells containing a null mutation of ypfP are shorter and rounder than wild-type cells during growth in Luria-Bertani medium and glucose minimal medium. In addition, the mutant cells preferentially undergo lysis when grown on solid Luria-Bertani medium.