Phosphatases modulate the bistable sporulation gene expression pattern in Bacillus subtilis

@article{citeulike:204589, abstract = {Spore formation in the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is a last resort adaptive response to starvation. To initiate sporulation, the key regulator in this process, Spo0A, needs to be activated by the so-called phosphorelay. Within a sporulating culture of B. subtilis, some cells initiate this developmental program, while other cells do not. Therefore, initiation of sporulation appears to be a regulatory process with a bistable outcome. Using a single cell analytical approach, we show that the autostimulatory loop of spo0A is responsible for generating a bistable response resulting in phenotypic variation within the sporulating culture. It is demonstrated that the main function of RapA, a phosphorelay phosphatase, is to maintain the bistable sporulation gene expression. As rapA expression is quorum regulated, it follows that quorum sensing influences sporulation bistability. Deletion of spo0E, a phosphatase directly acting on Spo0A\~{}P, resulted in abolishment of the bistable expression pattern. Artificial induction of a heterologous Rap phosphatase restored heterogeneity in a rapA or spo0E mutant. These results demonstrate that with external phosphatases, B. subtilis can use the phosphorelay as a tuner to modulate the bistable outcome of the sporulating culture. This shows that B. subtilis employs multiple pathways to maintain the bistable nature of a sporulating culture, stressing the physiological importance of this phenomenon.}, author = {Veening, Jan-Willem and Hamoen, Leendert W. and Kuipers, Oscar P. }, citeulike-article-id = {204589}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04659.x}, issn = {0950-382X}, journal = {Molecular Microbiology}, keywords = {bsubtilis, noise, sporulation}, month = {June}, number = {6}, pages = {1481--1494}, posted-at = {2008-03-25 16:27:19}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, title = {Phosphatases modulate the bistable sporulation gene expression pattern in Bacillus subtilis}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04659.x}, volume = {56}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:204589 L3 - citeulike-article-id:204589 N2 - Spore formation in the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is a last resort adaptive response to starvation. To initiate sporulation, the key regulator in this process, Spo0A, needs to be activated by the so-called phosphorelay. Within a sporulating culture of B. subtilis, some cells initiate this developmental program, while other cells do not. Therefore, initiation of sporulation appears to be a regulatory process with a bistable outcome. Using a single cell analytical approach, we show that the autostimulatory loop of spo0A is responsible for generating a bistable response resulting in phenotypic variation within the sporulating culture. It is demonstrated that the main function of RapA, a phosphorelay phosphatase, is to maintain the bistable sporulation gene expression. As rapA expression is quorum regulated, it follows that quorum sensing influences sporulation bistability. Deletion of spo0E, a phosphatase directly acting on Spo0A~P, resulted in abolishment of the bistable expression pattern. Artificial induction of a heterologous Rap phosphatase restored heterogeneity in a rapA or spo0E mutant. These results demonstrate that with external phosphatases, B. subtilis can use the phosphorelay as a tuner to modulate the bistable outcome of the sporulating culture. This shows that B. subtilis employs multiple pathways to maintain the bistable nature of a sporulating culture, stressing the physiological importance of this phenomenon. IS - 6 JF - Molecular Microbiology SN - 0950-382X EP - 1494 TI - Phosphatases modulate the bistable sporulation gene expression pattern in Bacillus subtilis PB - Blackwell Publishing VL - 56 SP - 1481 KW - bsubtilis KW - noise KW - sporulation AU - Veening, Jan-Willem AU - Hamoen, Leendert AU - Kuipers, Oscar PY - 2005/06// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04659.x ER -