Arabinose Plays an Important Role in Regulating the Growth and Sporulation of Bacillus subtilis NCD-2

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 24; no. 24; p. 17472
• Main Authors: Fu, Yifan, Liu, Xiaomeng, Su, Zhenhe, Wang, Peipei, Guo, Qinggang, Ma, Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14-12-2023
• Subjects: Bacillus subtilis; Carbohydrates; Carbon; Efficiency; Fermentation; Fungicides; Genes; Glucose; L-arabinose; Metabolism; Nitrogen; Nutrients; Pesticides; Phenotype MicroArray; Phosphorus; Proteins; sporulation; Sulfur; transcriptome; Phenotype MicroArray; Bacillus subtilis; L-arabinose; transcriptome; sporulation
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms242417472

A microbial fungicide developed from
NCD-2 has been registered for suppressing verticillium wilt in crops in China. Spores are the main ingredient of this fungicide and play a crucial role in suppressing plant disease. Therefore, increasing the number of spores of strain NCD-2 during fermentation is important for reducing the cost of the fungicide. In this study, five kinds of carbon sources were found to promote the metabolism of strain NCD-2 revealed via Biolog Phenotype MicroArray (PM) technology. L-arabinose showed the strongest ability to promote the growth and sporulation of strain NCD-2. L-arabinose increased the bacterial concentration and the sporulation efficiency of strain NCD-2 by 2.04 times and 1.99 times compared with D-glucose, respectively. Moreover, L-arabinose significantly decreased the autolysis of strain NCD-2. Genes associated with arabinose metabolism, sporulation, spore resistance to heat, and spore coat formation were significantly up-regulated, and genes associated with sporulation-delaying protein were significantly down-regulated under L-arabinose treatment. The deletion of
, which is involved in arabinose transport in the
genus, decreased growth and sporulation by 53.71% and 86.46% compared with wild-type strain NCD-2, respectively. Complementing the mutant strain by importing an intact
gene restored the strain's growth and sporulation.