SpoVG is Necessary for Sporulation in .

The spore constitutes the infectious form of the bacterium, and sporulation is an important process in the organism's life cycle. Herein, we show that disruption of SpoVG resulted in defective sporulation. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that a Δ mutant could not form an asymmetric septum, the first morphological change observed during sporulation. Moreover, levels of mRNA were reduced in the mutant, as demonstrated using β-galactosidase activity assays. The effects on sporulation of the Δ mutation differed in from those in because of the redundant functions of SpoVG and SpoIIB in SpoVG is highly conserved between and . Conversely, BA4688 (the protein tentatively assigned as SpoIIB in ) and SpoIIB (SpoIIB) share only 27.9% sequence identity. On complementation of the Δ strain with , the resulting strain pB/Δ could not form resistant spores, but partially completed the prespore engulfment stage. In agreement with this finding, mRNA levels of the prespore engulfment gene were significantly increased in strain pB/Δ compared with the Δ strain. Transcription of the coat development gene was similar in the pB/Δ and Δ strains. Thus, unlike in , SpoVG appears to be required for sporulation in , which provides further insight into the sporulation mechanisms of this pathogen.