Identification and characterization of WhiB-like family proteins of the Bifidobacterium genus.

Bifidobacteria are strictly anaerobic bacteria, that are an important component of human microbiote due to their probiotic characteristics. They are frequently exposed to a variety of stresses, therefore, identification of genes implicated in stress responses in bifidobacteria is critical for biomedicine and maintenance of industrial strains. The WhiB-like family proteins unique for Actinobacteria are transcriptional regulators involved in major cellular processes, including stress responses. The aim of this study was the identification of WhiB-like family proteins of the Bifidobacterium genus of the Actinobacteria class and functional characterization of conservative whiB-like genes. The DNA sequence database of 36 strains revealed a family of WhiB-encoding genes. It were identified the wblE orthologs in all Bifidobacteria species and the whiB2 orthologs in all bifidobacterial strains except of all strains of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis and Bifidobacterium gallicum. Some strains, in particular, those of the Bifidobacterium longum group, contain additional whiB-like genes of different length and a low degree of similarity in sequences. The wblE and whiB2 genes of the Bifidobacterium genus are evolutionary conservative and ancient genes. The real-time PCR analysis showed that transcription of wblE is induced by a variety of stress conditions such as heat shock, osmotic, oxidative stresses, by antibiotic tetracycline and bile salt treatment, the nutrient starvation and entry into late stationary phase. The wblE gene may play a significant role in general stress responses in bifidobacteria.