Bacillus subtilis has a thiopeptide binding protein, Mta, for antibiotic protection

Bacillus subtilis forms a robust biofilm when exposed to the thiopeptide antibiotic, thiocillin which is produced by Bacillus cereus. However, B. subtilis also forms biofilm when exposed to a thiocillin variant that does not have antibiotic activity (T4V). This suggested that the biofilm response to thiocillin was independent of antibiotic activity. We wanted to observe the transcriptional changes when B. subtilis was exposed to thiocillin and T4V. We conducted RNA-seq of B. subtilis populations treated with thiocillin, T4V and DMSO to better understand how this thiopeptide might be both an antibiotic and a signaling mechanism.