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Sporulation is a survival mechanism employed by Firmicutes, includingBacillus subtilis, when facing stressful conditions of growth (e.g., starvation). In this bacterium, the transcription repair coupling factor, Mfd, has been shown to play pivotal roles in sporulation transcription-coupled DNA repair and stress-associated mutagenesis. Recent studies have also revealed an unexpected role of Mfd in regulating gene expression duringB. subtilissporulation. This study examines the effects ofB. subtilisMfd deficiency on the expression of sporulation genes, sporulation efficiency, and spore morphology. In the absence of exogenous DNA damage, we found that Mfd deficiency does not compromise spore germination outgrowth; however, the loss of this factor promoted spore morphological defects and decreased sporulation efficiency. Also, our results confirmed an anomalous pattern of expression of sporulation genes in cells lacking Mfd. These results showed that Mfd influences bacterial physiology beyond DNA repair of actively transcribed genes. 

ABSTRACT We report the genome sequence ofBacillus subtilisstrain YB955, a prophage-cured strain used as a model in DNA repair, bacterial physiology, and mutagenesis studies. The assembled and annotated draft genome contains 4,031 coding genes, 5 rRNAs, and 73 tRNAs. Compared to 168, YB955 has a 134,402 bp deletion.