A novel hybrid kinase is essential for regulating the σB-mediated stress response of Bacillus cereus.

A common bacterial strategy for monitoring environmental challenges is to use two-component systems, which consist of a sensor histidine kinase (HK) and a response regulator (RR). In the food-borne pathogen Bacillus cereus, the alternative sigma factor σB is activated by the RR RsbY. Here we present strong indications that the PP2C-type phosphatase RsbY receives its input from the multi-sensor hybrid kinase BC1008 (renamed RsbK). Genome analyses revealed that, across bacilli, rsbY and rsbK are located in a conserved gene cluster. A B. cereus rsbK deletion strain was shown to be incapable of inducing σB upon stress conditions and was impaired in its heat adaptive response. Comparison of the wild-type and rsbK mutant transcriptomes upon heat shock revealed that RsbK was primarily involved in the activation of the σB-mediated stress response. Truncation of the RsbK RR receiver domain demonstrated the importance of