The YtvA protein, which is one of the proteins that comprises the network carrying out the signal transfer inducing the general stress response in Bacillus subtilis, is composed of an N-terminal LOV domain (that binds a flavin [FMN]) and a C-terminal STAS domain. This latter domain shows sequence features typical for a nucleotide (NTP) binding protein. It has been proposed (FEBS Lett., 580 [2006], 3818) that BODIPY-GTP can be used as a reporter for nucleotide binding to this site and that activation of the LOV domain by blue light is reflected in an alteration of the BODIPY-GTP fluorescence. Here we confirm that BODIPY-GTP indeed binds to YtvA, but rather nonspecifically, and not limited to the STAS domain. Blue-light modulation of fluorescence emission of YtvA-bound BODIPY-GTP is observed both in the full-length YtvA protein and in a truncated protein composed of the LOV-domain plus the LOV-STAS linker region (YtvA(1-147)) as a light-induced decrease in fluorescence emission. The isolated LOV domain (i.e. without the linker region) does not show such BODIPY-GTP fluorescence changes. Dialysis experiments have confirmed the blue-light-induced release of BODIPY-GTP from YtvA.
Bacillus subtilis Bacterial Proteins