KipOTIA detoxifies 5-oxoproline and promotes the growth of .

is an anaerobic enteric pathogen that disseminates in the environment as a dormant spore. For and other sporulating bacteria, the initiation of sporulation is a regulated process that prevents spore formation under favorable growth conditions. In , one such mechanism for preventing sporulation is the Kinase Inhibitory Protein, KipI, which impedes activation of the main sporulation kinase. In addition, KipI functions as part of a complex that detoxifies the intermediate metabolite, 5-oxoproline (OP), a harmful by-product of glutamic acid. In this study, we investigate the orthologous Kip proteins in to determine their roles in the regulation of sporulation and metabolism. Using deletion mutants in and the full operon, we show that unlike in the Kip proteins have no significant impact on sporulation. However, we found that the operon encodes a functional oxoprolinase that facilitates detoxification of OP. Further, our data demonstrate that KipOTIA not only detoxifies OP, but also allows OP to be used as a nutrient source that supports the robust growth of , thereby facilitating the conversion of a toxic byproduct of metabolism into an effective energy source.