The NAD-dependent ligase encoded by yerG is an essential gene of Bacillus subtilis

DNA ligases are grouped into two families, ATP-dependent and NAD-dependent, according to the cofactor required for their activity. A surprising capability of both kinds of ligases to complement for one another in vivo has been observed. Bacillus subtilis harbours one NAD-dependent ligase, YerG, and two ATP-dependent ligases, YkoU and YoqV, this last one being encoded by the 134 kb lysogenic bacteriophage SPβ and consisting of a single adenylation domain typical of ATP-dependent ligases. Because the genetics of ligases in B.subtilis had not been studied previously, the genes encoding for one ligase of each kind, yerG and yoqV, were investigated. We found that the yerG gene was essential in B.subtilis. This suggests that none of the ATP-dependent ligases was able to complement the yerG defect. In addition, the ATP-dependent ligase encoded by yoqV, when cloned on a plasmid under appropriate expression signals, was unable to rescue a yerG mutant strain. The two B.subtilis ligase genes yerG and yoqV were also introduced in an Escherichia coli strain encoding a thermosensitive ligase (ligts), and whereas yoqV did not complement the ligts defects, yerG fully complemented the growth and UV sensitivity defects of the lig mutant. We propose to rename the yerG and yoqV genes of B.subtilis ligA and ligB respectively.