Intergenic suppression of spoO phenotypes by the Bacillus subtilis mutation rvtA.

A collection of intergenic suppressors of the Bacillus subtilis spoOF221 mutation has been isolated. One of these suppressors, rvtA, has been mapped between lys-1and aroD. The rvtA suppressor restores spoOF sporulation to wild type levels and substantially improves the sporulation efficiencies of spoOB and spoOE strains. The rvtA gene does not affect the Spo phenotype of spoOH, spoOJ or spoOK mutants. The rvtA gene also prevents the induction by aliphatic alcohols of SpoO phenocopies in wild type B. subtilis cells.