Analysis of the Inhibition of Sporulation of Bacillus subtilis Caused by Increasing the Number of Copies of the spO0F Gene

SUMMARY: The Bacillus subtilis spoOF gene was cloned on a 6·3 kbp BglII fragment. The effect on sporulation of amplification of the spoOF region was examined. Sporulation was inhibited to less than 5% of that of the parental strain when as few as four copies of the spoOF region were present. Subclones, constructed in autonomous or integrative vectors, were used to demonstrate that the region responsible for the copy-number-dependent asporogeny corresponded closely with the spoOF structural gene. A possible mechanism for this effect is discussed.