Resilience to oxidative and nitrosative stress is mediated by the stressosome, RsbP and SigB in Bacillus subtilis.

A bacterium's ability to thrive in the presence of multiple environmental stressors simultaneously determines its resilience. We showed that activation of the SigB-controlled general stress response by mild environmental or energy stress provided significant cross-protection to subsequent lethal oxidative, disulfide and nitrosative stress in Bacillus subtilis. SigB activation is mediated via the stressosome and RsbP, the main conduits of environmental and energy stress, respectively.