title: Impact of Serine/Threonine Protein Kinases on the Regulation of Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: Bacteria possess many kinases that catalyze phosphorylation of proteins on diverse amino acids including arginine, cysteine, histidine, aspartate, serine, threonine, and tyrosine. These protein kinases regulate different physiological processes in response to environmental modifications. For example, in response to nutritional stresses, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis can differentiate into an endospore; the initiation of sporulation is controlled by the master regulator Spo0A, which is activated by phosphorylation. Spo0A phosphorylation is carried out by a multi-component phosphorelay system. These phosphorylation events on histidine and aspartate residues are labile, highly dynamic and permit a temporal control of the sporulation initiation decision. More recently, another kind of phosphorylation, more stable yet still dynamic, on serine or threonine residues, was proposed to play a role in spore maintenance and spore revival. Kinases that perform these phosphorylation events mainly belong to the Hanks family and could regulate spore dormancy and spore germination. The aim of this mini review is to focus on the regulation of sporulation in B. subtilis by these serine and threonine phosphorylation events and the kinases catalyzing them.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, CNRS, UMR 7283, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille Université Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pompeo
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, CNRS, UMR 7283, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille Université Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Foulquier
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, CNRS, UMR 7283, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille Université Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galinier
keywords: Bacillus subtilis; Ser/Thr protein kinases; phosphorylation; regulation; sporulation