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Crystal Structure Of The Gerbc Component Of A Bacillus Subtilis Spore Germinant Receptor, Yunfeng Li, Barbara Setlow, Peter Setlow, Bing Hao

UCHC Articles - Research

The nutrient germinant receptors (nGRs) of spores of Bacillus species are clusters of three proteins that play a critical role in triggering the germination of dormant spores in response to specific nutrient molecules. Here we report the crystal structure of the C protein of the GerB germinant receptor, so called GerBC, of Bacillus subtilis spores at 2.3 Å resolution. The GerBC protein adopts a previously uncharacterized type of protein fold consisting of three distinct domains, each of which is centered by a β sheet surrounded by multiple α helices. Secondary structure prediction and structure-based sequence alignment suggest that the GerBC …