The sigma factor SigD of Mycobacterium tuberculosis putatively enhances gene expression of the septum site determining protein under stressful environments

This work examined the expression of the septum site determining gene (ssd) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDC1551 and its ΔsigD mutant under different growing conditions. The results showed an up-regulation of ssd during stationary phase and starvation conditions, but not during in vitro dormancy, suggesting a putative role for SigD in the control of ssd expression mainly under lack-of-nutrients environments. Furthermore, we elucidated a putative link between ssd expression and cell elongation of bacilli at stationary phase. In addition, a -35 sigD consensus sequence was found for the ssd promoter region, reinforcing the putative regulation of ssd by SigD, and in turn, supporting this protein role during the adaptation of M. tuberculosis to some stressful environments.