The role of a new family of bacterial protein kinase (YdiB) in stress-mediated programmed cell death in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Programmed cell death mediated by harsh stress conditions has recently attracted attention because there is an increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance. It has been identified that protein kinase and protein phosphatase signaling pathway regulate a variety of cellular processes such as programmed cell death. YdiB, previously identified as a family a family of ATPases, is shown to have a Ser/Thr/Tyr kinase activity. YdiB found in Bacillus subtilis was shown to play an important role in resistance to oxidative stress. Since previous results indicated the importance of YdiB in resistance to oxidative stress and its importance for normal bacterial growth, our aim was to assess the potential role of YdiB in programmed cell death. We assessed programmed cell death by assessing the level of lipid peroxidation and validate the presence of DNA fragmentation. Results proved that DNA fragmentation and significant level of lipid peroxidation was only observed by the deleted mutant strain Bacillus subtilis DydiB. Our study verified the implication of YdiB in bacterial resistance to oxidative stress by preventing DNA fragmentation and lipid peroxidation. Our data showed that YdiB can be used as a target for antimicrobial treatment.