ComQ168 from Bacillus subtilis 168 catalyzes C-terminal tryptophan farnesylation of ComX to generate a competence-inducing pheromone. Recombinant ComQ168 also modifies cyclic peptides, including Dapt...

Bacillus subtilis has a circadian clock, extending the field of chronobiology to nonphotosynthetic bacteria.

BACKGROUND: Bacillus, as a plant–growth‐promoting rhizobacteria, can enhance the resistance of plants to phytopathogens.

The SPFH protein SamI and the integral membrane proteins SamG and SamH form the SamIGH complex, linking envelope stress signalling to developmental programs in Bacillus subtilis. Loss of SamI causes ...

Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) administration is the most effective immunotherapy for bladder cancer, but live BCG bacteria may cause serious

Nature Chemistry, Published online: 05 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02292-6Binuclear metalloenzymes remain underexplored for new-to-nature biocatalytic reactions. Now binuclear copper enzymes, particularly a Bacillus megaterium tyrosinase, are used as a catalytic platform for stereoselective radical azidation, bromination, chlorination and isothiocyanation reactions, expanding metalloenzyme catalysis beyond mononuclear systems.

International Conference on Bacilli and Gram-Positive Bacteria — 29 June to 2 July 2027 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Join the global gram-positive research community.

Prophages are near-ubiquitous in bacterial genomes, yet their effects on host physiology are typically assayed under a narrow range of laboratory conditions, mostly involving DNA-damaging agents or physical and chemical stress. This leaves open the question of which ecological and physiological conditions trigger prophage-host interaction, and whether the outcome benefits the host or the prophage. Here, we used publicly available transcriptomic data to investigate conditions promoting prophage-host interaction in Bacillus subtilis. This analysis identified that competence strongly induces prophage gene expression. To further investigate the role of competence, we used two sets of B. subtilis strains: a natural SPβ lysogen strain and its cured counterpart, and a natural non-lysogenic strain and the same strain lysogenised with SPβ. Under competence-inducing conditions, both lysogen strains showed lower expression of the competence genes compared with their non-lysogenic counterparts. This result was corroborated by transformation assays that showed consistently lower transformation efficiency in the lysogen strains, and by fluorescence microscopy using a transcriptional reporter for the late competence gene. Because competence is a principal route for horizontal gene transfer in B. subtilis, prophage repression of the competence programme constrains host DNA uptake and evolvability. More broadly, these results show that mining public transcriptomes for condition effects can guide experimental effort towards prophage-host phenotypes that conventional laboratory conditions would miss. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, 101041421 The Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, https://ror.org/059bp8k51, P4-0116, N1-0426, P4-0463, J4-50134, J7-70268

Cooked rice traps moisture, making it a haven for bacteria. That includes Bacillus cereus, which can cause food poisoning. Learn more, plus how to handle cooked rice safely.