Riwa Frangieh, Anum Amir, Samya Clarke, Erika Garrido and Mia Park

Abstract:

Many laboratory adapted strains have mutations in the gene deoR, which regulates pyrimidine nucleoside import. To test whether DeoR regulation influences sporulation, we compared ΔdeoR and mutants of genes related to deoR (Δdra, ΔnupC, Δpdp, Δdrm, ΔphoC) to wild type (3610) and lab-adapted isolates using growth curves, microscopy, and heat-resistance experiments. The ΔdeoR mutant displayed increased sporulation, with higher spore counts relative to WT, counted by microscopy and heat resistance. In contrast, deletion mutants of genes repressed by deoR sporulated less, displaying reduced spore counts (determined by microscopy, and heat kills), and culture survival. We also looked at culture survival and sporulation in lab-adapted strains. These strains displayed a variety of phenotypes, suggesting sporulation is impacted during lab-adaptation. Further work will be needed to confirm that these results are not due to other mutations in the deoR strains.