Stripping Bacillus: ComK auto-stimulation is responsible for the bistable response in competence development

@article{citeulike:154057, abstract = {In Bacillus subtilis competence for genetic transformation develops only in a subpopulation of cells in an isogenic culture. The molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotypic heterogeneity are unknown. In this study, we stepwise simplify the signal transduction cascade leading to competence, yielding a strain devoid of all regulatory inputs for this process that have been identified so far. We demonstrate that auto-stimulation of ComK, the master regulator for competence development, is essential and in itself can be sufficient to generate a bistable expression pattern. We argue that transcriptional regulation determines the threshold of ComK to initiate the auto-stimulatory response, and that the basal level of ComK (in a wild-type strain governed by MecA-mediated proteolytic control) determines the fraction of cells that reach this threshold, and thus develop competence.}, author = {Smits, Wiep K. and Eschevins, Caroline C. and Susanna, Kim A. and Bron, Sierd and Kuipers, Oscar P. and Hamoen, Leendert W. }, citeulike-article-id = {154057}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04488.x}, issn = {0950-382X}, journal = {Molecular Microbiology}, keywords = {autoregulation, bistability, bsubtilis, competence}, month = {May}, number = {3}, pages = {604--614}, posted-at = {2008-03-25 17:28:50}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, title = {Stripping Bacillus: ComK auto-stimulation is responsible for the bistable response in competence development}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04488.x}, volume = {56}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:154057 L3 - citeulike-article-id:154057 N2 - In Bacillus subtilis competence for genetic transformation develops only in a subpopulation of cells in an isogenic culture. The molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotypic heterogeneity are unknown. In this study, we stepwise simplify the signal transduction cascade leading to competence, yielding a strain devoid of all regulatory inputs for this process that have been identified so far. We demonstrate that auto-stimulation of ComK, the master regulator for competence development, is essential and in itself can be sufficient to generate a bistable expression pattern. We argue that transcriptional regulation determines the threshold of ComK to initiate the auto-stimulatory response, and that the basal level of ComK (in a wild-type strain governed by MecA-mediated proteolytic control) determines the fraction of cells that reach this threshold, and thus develop competence. IS - 3 JF - Molecular Microbiology SN - 0950-382X EP - 614 TI - Stripping Bacillus: ComK auto-stimulation is responsible for the bistable response in competence development PB - Blackwell Publishing VL - 56 SP - 604 KW - autoregulation KW - bistability KW - bsubtilis KW - competence AU - Smits, Wiep AU - Eschevins, Caroline AU - Susanna, Kim AU - Bron, Sierd AU - Kuipers, Oscar AU - Hamoen, Leendert PY - 2005/05// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04488.x ER -