To kill but not be killed: a delicate balance.
Before launching a missile, it is necessary to design an efficient safety net for self-protection. In this issue of Cell, Ellermeier et al. (2006) describe the mechanism underlying a biological safety net for the soil bacterium Bacillus subtilis. This bacterium protects itself from a toxic protein it secretes by upregulating an immunity protein, which it does by sequestering a transcriptional repressor at the plasma membrane.
Stragier
Patrick
P
Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, CNRS UPR9073, 75005 Paris, France. stragier@ibpc.fr
D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008954:Models, Biological; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D012097:Repressor Proteins