Global Transcriptional Response of Bacillus subtilis to Heat Shock

In response to heat stress, Bacillus subtilis activates the transcription of well over 100 different genes. Many of these genes are members of a general stress response regulon controlled by the secondary sigma factor, ς(B), while others are under control of the HrcA or CtsR heat shock regulators. We have used DNA microarrays to monitor the global transcriptional response to heat shock. We find strong induction of known ς(B)-dependent genes with a characteristic rapid induction followed by a return to near prestimulus levels. The HrcA and CtsR regulons are also induced, but with somewhat slower kinetics. Analysis of DNA sequences proximal to newly identified heat-induced genes leads us to propose ∼70 additional members of the ς(B) regulon. We have also identified numerous heat-induced genes that are not members of known heat shock regulons. Notably, we observe very strong induction of arginine biosynthesis and transport operons. Induction of several genes was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. In addition, the transcriptional responses measured by microarray hybridization compare favorably with the numerous previous studies of heat shock in this organism. Since many different conditions elicit both specific and general stress responses, knowledge of the heat-induced general stress response reported here will be helpful for interpreting future microarray studies of other stress responses.