The Direct Interaction between Two Morphogenetic Proteins Is Essential for Spore Coat Formation in Bacillus subtilis

In Bacillus subtilis the protective layers that surround the mature spore are formed by over seventy different proteins. Some of those proteins have a regulatory role on the assembly of other coat proteins and are referred to as morphogenetic factors. CotE is a major morphogenetic factor, known to form a ring around the forming spore and organize the deposition of the outer surface layers. CotH is a CotE-dependent protein known to control the assembly of at least nine other coat proteins. We report that CotH also controls the assembly of CotE and that this mutual dependency is due to a direct interaction between the two proteins. The C-terminal end of CotE is essential for this direct interaction and CotH cannot bind to mutant CotE deleted of six or nine C-terminal amino acids. However, addition of a negatively charged amino acid to those deleted versions of CotE rescues the interaction.