Localisation of the cell wall-associated phosphodiesterase PhoD of Bacillus subtilis

The localisation of phosphate-starvation-induced phosphodiesterase PhoD from Bacillus subtilis was studied by analysing processing, release and immunogold labelling of the sections. Although the processing of the pre-protein was extremely slow, the major fraction of PhoD could be detected at the surface of the cell wall. The results indicate that inefficient processing of the translocated pre-protein keeps PhoD in a cell wall-associated location. The uncleaved signal peptide might function as a membrane anchor.