The role of thiol oxidative stress response in heat-induced protein aggregate formation during thermotolerance in Bacillus subtilis

verfasst von

Stephanie Runde, Noël Molière, Anja Heinz, Etienne Maisonneuve, Armgard Janczikowski, Alexander K.W. Elsholz, Ulf Gerth, Michael Hecker, Kürşad Turgay

Abstract

Using Bacillus subtilis as a model organism, we investigated thermotolerance development by analysing cell survival and in vivo protein aggregate formation in severely heat-shocked cells primed by a mild heat shock. We observed an increased survival during severe heat stress, accompanied by a strong reduction of heat-induced cellular protein aggregates in cells lacking the ClpXP protease. We could demonstrate that the transcription factor Spx, a regulatory substrate of ClpXP, is critical for the prevention of protein aggregate formation because its regulon encodes redox chaperones, such as thioredoxin, required for protection against thiol-specific oxidative stress. Consequently B.subtilis cells grown in the absence of oxygen were more protected against severe heat shock and much less protein aggregates were detected compared to aerobically grown cells. The presented results indicate that in B.subtilisSpx and its regulon plays not only an important role for oxidative but also for heat stress response and thermotolerance development. In addition, our experiments suggest that the protection of misfolded proteins from thiol oxidation during heat shock can be critical for the prevention of cellular protein aggregation in vivo.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Mikrobiologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin)
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Molecular microbiology

Band

91

Seiten

1036-1052

Anzahl der Seiten

17

ISSN

0950-382X

Publikationsdatum

14.01.2014

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Mikrobiologie, Molekularbiologie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.12521 (Zugang: Offen)