A novel bacterial signalling system with a combination of a Ser/Thr kinase cascade and a His/Asp two-component system.
Prokaryotes and eukaryotes have long been thought to use very different types of kinases (the His kinases of the 'bacterial' two-component systems versus the 'eukaryotic' Ser/Thr/Tyr kinases) to carry out signal transduction. This paradigm no longer holds true, because both systems are now found together in an increasing number of prokaryotic organisms and 'two-component' His kinase are present in eukaryotes. Pioneering work on bacterial protein serine threonine kinases (PSTKs) has been performed in Myxococcus xanthus, a soil bacterium with a complex life cycle that possesses orthologues of signalling-related kinases 'typical' of both the prokaryotic and the eukaryotic kingdoms. In the work reported in this volume of Molecular Microbiology, Nariya and Inouye describe a PSTK cascade that modulates the biochemical activity of MrpC, a CRP-like transcriptional regulator for essential developmental signalling pathways in M. xanthus whose transcription is under the control of a two-component system. This is the first report of both a functional PSTK cascade in bacteria and the use of both PSTK and two-component systems to control a single complex bacterial signalling event.
Lux
Renate
R
School of Dentistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Shi
Wenyuan
W
D001222:Aspartate Kinase / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D016941:Myxococcus xanthus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C433791:MrpC protein, Myxococcus xanthus; D014157:Transcription Factors; D011494:Protein Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D000071677:Histidine Kinase; D001222:Aspartate Kinase