title: Bacterial differentiation via gradual activation of global regulators.
abstract: Bacteria have evolved to adapt to various conditions and respond to certain stress conditions. The ability to sense and efficiently reply to these environmental effects involve versatile array of sensors and global or specific regulators. Interestingly, modulation of the levels of active global regulators enables bacteria to respond to diverse signals via a single central transcriptional regulator and to activate or repress certain differentiation pathways at a spatio-temporal manner. The Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis is an ideal bacterium to study how membrane bound and cytoplasmic sensor kinases affect the level of phosphorylated global regulator, Spo0A which in response activates genes related to sliding, biofilm formation, and sporulation. In addition, other global regulators, including the two-component system DegS-DegU, modulate overlapping and complementary genes in B. subtilis related to surface colonization and biofilm formation. The intertwinement of global regulatory systems also allows the accurate modulation of differentiation pathways. Studies in the last decade enable us to get a deeper insight into the role of global regulators on the smooth transition of developmental processes in B. subtilis.
authors.affiliation: Terrestrial Biofilms Group, Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 07743, Jena, Germany. akos-tibor.kovacs@uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: Ákos T
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4465-1636
authors.initials: ÁT
authors.lastname: Kovács
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018441:Biofilms; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases
keywords: Bacillus subtilis; Biofilm formation; Global regulator; Sensor kinase; Sliding; Sporulation