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Skotnicka, Dorota, Smaldone, Gregory T., Petters, Tobias, Trampari, Eleftheria, Liang, Jennifer, Kaever, Volkhard, Malone, Jacob G. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1959-6820, Singer, Mitchell and Søgaard-Andersen, Lotte
(2016)
A minimal threshold of c-di-GMP is essential for fruiting body formation and sporulation in Myxococcus xanthus.
PLoS Genetics, 12 (5).
ISSN 1553-7390
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Abstract
Generally, the second messenger bis-(3’-5’)-cyclic dimeric GMP (c-di-GMP) regulates the switch between motile and sessile lifestyles in bacteria. Here, we show that c-di-GMP is an essential regulator of multicellular development in the social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. In response to starvation, M. xanthus initiates a developmental program that culminates in formation of spore-filled fruiting bodies. We show that c-di-GMP accumulates at elevated levels during development and that this increase is essential for completion of development whereas excess c-di-GMP does not interfere with development. MXAN3735 (renamed DmxB) is identified as a diguanylate cyclase that only functions during development and is responsible for this increased c-di-GMP accumulation. DmxB synthesis is induced in response to starvation, thereby restricting DmxB activity to development. DmxB is essential for development and functions downstream of the Dif chemosensory system to stimulate exopolysaccharide accumulation by inducing transcription of a subset of the genes encoding proteins involved in exopolysaccharide synthesis. The developmental defects in the dmxB mutant are non-cell autonomous and rescued by co-development with a strain proficient in exopolysaccharide synthesis, suggesting reduced exopolysaccharide accumulation as the causative defect in this mutant. The NtrC-like transcriptional regulator EpsI/Nla24, which is required for exopolysaccharide accumulation, is identified as a c-diGMP receptor, and thus a putative target for DmxB generated c-di-GMP. Because DmxB can be—at least partially—functionally replaced by a heterologous diguanylate cyclase, these results altogether suggest a model in which a minimum threshold level of c-di-GMP is essential for the successful completion of multicellular development in M. xanthus.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2016 Skotnicka et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | Pure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Jun 2016 16:01 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2024 11:42 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/59202 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006080 |
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