SporeWeb

SpoOA Commitment to sporulation and engulfment (Stages II - III)

Spo0A during commitment to sporulation

Spo0A is best known for its role during initiation of sporulation. However, as the sporulation process advances, Spo0A remains active in executing important tasks. Upon asymmetric cell division levels of Spo0A rise specifically in the mother cell. As only 30% of one chromosome is trapped in the forespore compartment, with the remainder of the chromosome plus an additional chromosome confined to the mother cell, there is a temporary absence of genes encoding phosphorelay products in the developing forespore. This leads to a boost in transcriptional regulation by Spo0A~P after polar septation takes place in the mother cell only ¹⁰⁴. Subsequently, positive regulation of transcription levels of the spoIIG locus in the mother cell takes place, which are necessary for the availability and activity of the transcriptional regulator σ^E.