The two-component signal transduction system YvcPQ regulates the bacterial resistance to bacitracin in Bacillus thuringiensis

YvcPQ is one of the two-component signal transduction systems that respond to specific stimuli and enable cells to adjust multiple cellular functions. It consists of a histidine kinase YvcQ and a response regulator YvcP. In this study, through searching the consensus sequence recognized by YvcP, we found four YvcP-binding motifs in the promoter regions of genes yvcR (BMB171_C4100), BMB171_C4385, kapD (BMB171_C4525) and BMB171_C4835 in Bacillus thuringiensis BMB171 which is a representative of Bacillus cereus group, and confirmed that these genes are regulated by YvcP. We compared the sequence of yvcPQ and its downstream genes in genus Bacillus, and found two different kinds of yvc locus, one was the yvcPQ-RS in B. subtilis species and the other was the yvcPQ-R-S1S2 in B. cereus group. Furthermore, we found that YvcP activates the transcription of yvcS1S2 (downstream of yvcR) to promote bacterial resistance to bacitracin and deletion of either yvcPQ operon or yvcS1S2 operon renders the bacterial cells more sensitive to bacitracin. This study enriched our understanding of both the YvcPQ’s function and the mechanism of bacterial resistance to bacitracin.