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oai:figshare.com:article/33993457 2026-09-25T05:45:06Z category_8 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Supplementary file 1_DUF4004 protein BacR (YhbD) of Bacillus subtilis is a regulator of bactofilin expression and interacts with bactofilins in a switch-like manner.docx Kristin Velten (25107886) Patrik Brück (25107892) Shahla Alipour (25107895) Doreen Meier (760984) Georg K. A. Hochberg (25107898) Paul Klemm (6262502) Marcus Lechner (618023) Anke Becker (124450) Peter L. Graumann (8443926) Microbiology Bacillus subtilis bactofilins cell wall stress DUF4004 subcellular relocalization transcriptional regulation Introduction<p>DUF4004-containing proteins are found in a variety of bacteria. The only characterized member was shown to act as transcriptional repressor of genes involved in metabolism in Clostridium acetobutylicum. We have characterized the B. subtilis member of this protein family, encoded by the yhbD gene. The absence of yhbD negatively affects the expression of the yhbDEF operon, and thereby of bactofilin genes, but does not show any other alteration of genome-wide transcript levels.</p>Results<p>We propose to name the protein as “BacR” for bactofilin regulator. The putative transcription factor binds to DNA in vitro, and forms predominantly dimers. Interestingly, purified bactofilins BacE and BacF bind to BacR in vitro, and strongly reduce its DNA binding, and the depletion of bactofilins leads to reduced copy numbers of BacR. In vivo, BacR localizes in foci at the cell membrane.</p>Discussion<p>Depletion of BacE and BacF leads to a loss of membrane localization of BacR and induces nucleoid association. These findings suggest that bactofilins can recruit BacR to the membrane. Treatment of cells with vancomycin also leads to a switch in BacR localization to the nucleoids, indicating that it may be involved in the response to cell wall stress. Our data suggest that BacR acts as a regulator of bactofilins, and fine-tunes bactofilin expression involving a switch-like mechanism with BacE and BacF.</p> 2026-09-25T05:45:06Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1922879.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Supplementary_file_1_DUF4004_protein_BacR_YhbD_of_Bacillus_subtilis_is_a_regulator_of_bactofilin_expression_and_interacts_with_bactofilins_in_a_switch-like_manner_docx/33993457 CC BY 4.0