New beta-glucoside (bgl) genes in Bacillus subtilis: the bglP gene product has both transport and regulatory functions similar to those of BglF, its Escherichia coli homolog.

The Bacillus subtilis sacY and sacT genes encode antiterminator proteins, similar to the Escherichia coli bglG gene product and required for transcription of sucrose metabolism genes. A Tn10 insertion into bglP (formerly sytA) has been previously identified as restoring sucrose utilization to a strain with deletions of both sacY and sacT. The nucleotide sequence of bglP showed a high degree of homology with the E. coli bglF gene (BglF is a beta-glucoside permease of the phosphotransferase system and also acts as a negative regulator of the BglG antiterminator). Complementation studies of an E. coli strain with a deletion of the bgl operon showed that BglP was a functional beta-glucoside permease. In B. subtilis, bglP complemented in trans both the bglP::Tn10 original insertion and a phenotypically similar bglP deletion. Disruption of licT abolished the suppressor phenotype in a bglP mutant. LicT is a recently identified third B. subtilis antiterminator of the BglG/SacY family. These observations indicated that BglP was also a negative regulator of LicT. Both LicT and BglP seem to be involved in the induction by beta-glucosides of an operon containing at least two genes, bglP itself and bglH, encoding a phospho-beta-glucosidase. Other beta-glucoside genes homologous to bglP and bglH have been recently described in B. subtilis. Thus, B. subtilis possesses several sets of beta-glucoside genes, like E. coli, but these genes do not appear to be cryptic.