The DNA region containing the final 121 bp of the ftsZ ORF and 28 bp after the termination codon (coordinates 7267 to 7415) was amplified with the primers Eco3 and Bam3 (Table 1) that carry EcoRI and BamHI sites, respectively, and was restricted. Plasmid pJPR1 [9] (‘amyE cat P xyl amyE’ bla, a gift from J. Rawlings) was digested with HindIII and BamHI in the polylinker region, ligated to the prepared DNA fragments and transformed into E. coli Hb101. The correct recombinant plasmid was chosen by sequencing and used to transform competent B. subtilis 168. The ftsZ minigene

became integrated at the amyE site as a result of a double crossing-over event between the 5’ and 3’ amyE regions carried upstream and downstream

of the cloning site in pJPR1. Integration was controlled by sequencing. RNA transcribed from the minigene in the recombinant B. subtilis 168 was detected by primer extension Poziotinib with primer Amy5 (Table 1) annealing to the 5’ region of the amyE locus, 245 nucleotides downstream of the inserted minigene. Induction of the pxyl promoter by 5% xylose in TS was for 18 h and 3 h. Termination sequences The putative B. mycoides termination sequences were detected on the basis of their identity to those predicted for B. weihenstephanensis at the TransTerm-HP site (http://​transterm.​cbcb.​umd.​edu .). The region of the B. weihenstephanensis KBAB4 genome considered was from coordinates 3780796 to 3790953 (Accession NC_010184), containing the genes of the dcw cluster from murD to ftsZ and the following spoIIG operon. Sequence data Sequences of the B. mycoides

SIN and DX partial learn more dcw clusters are deposited as GenBank AY129554 (SIN) and AY129555 (DX). Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Italian Space Agency with ASI contract n° 1/R/290/02 and ASI-MoMa project 2006–2009 to EB. Institutional funds for EB came from the CNR Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari IBPM. Science Faculty funds from the Sapienza University of Rome supported CDF. We thank Giuseppe Pisaneschi for his valuable technical assistance. Electronic supplementary material Additional file 1: Putative initiation sites of ftsQ , ftsA and ftsZ Florfenicol RNA as determined by primer extension. The gene sequences are those of the B. mycoides DX strain (accession AY12555.2). The DNA complementary to the PE primers is highlighted in turquoise, as are the nucleotides of RNA start. Initiation and termination codons of the ORFs are in red. The hexamers corresponding to consensus TATA-box promoter motifs (17) and the ribosome binding sites are underlined. (PPTX 142 KB) Additional file 2: Determination of SpoIIGA RNA 5’ ends by Primer Extension. The three genes of the SpoIIG cluster are encoded downstream of the dcw cluster, by the same DNA strand. The distance between the two clusters is 415 bp in DX and 260 bp in SIN.