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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Microbial Physiology and Metabolism

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1680580

Mfd deficiency decreases the abundance of complete transcripts of sporulation genes and alters sporogenesis and the structure of dormant Bacillus subtilis spores

Provisionally accepted
Holly MartinHolly Martin1Robert HeronRobert Heron2Hilda C Leyva-SánchezHilda C Leyva-Sánchez2Ryan King PerezRyan King Perez3Amber CallawayAmber Callaway2Tatiana ErmiTatiana Ermi4Aude PicardAude Picard2Jessica GrifaldoJessica Grifaldo2Jesse L BarnesJesse L Barnes5Mario Pedraza-ReyesMario Pedraza-Reyes6Eduardo RobletoEduardo Robleto2*
  • 1Nevada State University, Henderson, United States
  • 2University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States
  • 3Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
  • 4University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, Reno, United States
  • 5The University of Texas at San Antonio College for Health Community and Policy, San Antonio, United States
  • 6Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico

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Sporulation is a survival mechanism employed by Firmicutes, including Bacillus subtilis, when facing stressful conditions of growth (e.g., starvation). In this bacterium, the transcription repair coupling factor, Mfd, has been shown to play pivotal roles in sporulation transcription-coupled DNA repair and stress-associated mutagenesis. Recent studies have also revealed an unexpected role of Mfd in regulating gene expression during B. subtilis sporulation. This study examines the effects of B. subtilis Mfd deficiency on the expression of sporulation genes, sporulation efficiency, and spore morphology. In the absence of exogenous DNA damage, we found that Mfd deficiency does not compromise spore germination outgrowth; however, the loss of this factor promoted spore morphological defects and decreased sporulation efficiency. Also, our results confirmed an anomalous pattern of expression of sporulation genes in cells lacking Mfd. These results showed that Mfd influences bacterial physiology beyond DNA repair of actively transcribed genes.

Keywords: Mfd, sporulation, Germination, transcription-coupled repair, Transcriptional regulation

Received: 06 Aug 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Martin, Heron, Leyva-Sánchez, King Perez, Callaway, Ermi, Picard, Grifaldo, Barnes, Pedraza-Reyes and Robleto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Eduardo Robleto, eduardo.robleto@unlv.edu

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material