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Category: Microbial Genetics and Molecular Biology; Bacterial Pathogenesis
Intercompartmental Signal Transduction during Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis, Page 1 of 2
< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555815578/9781555814045_Chap01-1.gif /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555815578/9781555814045_Chap01-2.gifAbstract:
This chapter talks about the two cells that comprise the sporangium during spore formation in Bacillus subtilis. Spore formation in B. subtilis has served as an important model for cell-cell signaling in bacteria. The conversation between the forespore and mother cell provides insight into how and why cells communicate and highlights the diversity of ways in which organisms transduce information across their membranes. It is clear that there are three signal transduction pathways between the mother cell and forespore that ensure that gene expression in one compartment is linked to gene expression in the other throughout the sporulation process. The first signal transduction pathway between the forespore and mother cell has as input σF activity in the forespore and as output the activation of σE in the mother cell. Dissection of the molecular mechanisms of R-mediated GA activation and GA-mediated pro-σE processing promises to reveal general principles of how information can be transduced across a lipid bilayer. The second signal transduction pathway, the activation of σG in the forespore under the control of σE in the mother cell, has been the most refractory to genetic and molecular dissection. The third and final signal transduction pathway, the activation of σK in the mother cell under the control of σG in the forespore, is the most well understood of the three. All three of these signaling pathways have served as powerful models for studying cell-cell signaling in bacteria.
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