title: Regulations governing the multicellular lifestyle of Myxococcus xanthus.
abstract: In living organisms, cooperative cell movements underlie the formation of differentiated tissues. In bacteria, Myxococcus xanthus uses cooperative group movements, to predate on prey and to form multicellular fruiting bodies, where the cells differentiate into dormant spores. Motility is controlled by a central signaling Che-like pathway, Frz. Single cell studies indicate Frz regulates the frequency at which cells reverse their direction of movement by transmitting signals to a molecular system that controls the spatial activity of the motility engines. This regulation is central to all Myxococcus multicellular behaviors but how Frz signaling generates ordered patterns is poorly understood. In this review, we first discuss the genetic structure of the Frz pathway and possible regulations that could explain its action during Myxococcus development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, CNRS-Aix-Marseille University, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13009 Marseille, France. Electronic address: rmercier@imm.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, CNRS-Aix-Marseille University, 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13009 Marseille, France. Electronic address: tmignot@imm.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Tâm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mignot
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D009068:Movement; D009154:Mutation; D016941:Myxococcus xanthus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013171:Spores, Bacterial
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C065626:FrzCD protein, Myxococcus xanthus