Journal
MICROBIOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY REVIEWS
Volume 77, Issue 1, Pages 1-52Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00043-12
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Commission
- Swedish Research Council of Natural Sciences
- Petrus and Augusta Hedlund Foundation
- Carl Trygger Foundation
- Swedish Research Council of Medicine and Health
- Karolinska Institutet
- Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health at the National Library of Medicine
- NSF [MCB 1052575]
- USDA [AFRI 2010-65201-20599]
- University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station
- Div Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1052575] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Twenty-five years have passed since the discovery of cyclic dimeric (3'-> 5') GMP (cyclic di-GMP or c-di-GMP). From the relative obscurity of an allosteric activator of a bacterial cellulose synthase, c-di-GMP has emerged as one of the most common and important bacterial second messengers. Cyclic di-GMP has been shown to regulate biofilm formation, motility, virulence, the cell cycle, differentiation, and other processes. Most c-di-GMP-dependent signaling pathways control the ability of bacteria to interact with abiotic surfaces or with other bacterial and eukaryotic cells. Cyclic di-GMP plays key roles in lifestyle changes of many bacteria, including transition from the motile to the sessile state, which aids in the establishment of multicellular biofilm communities, and from the virulent state in acute infections to the less virulent but more resilient state characteristic of chronic infectious diseases. From a practical standpoint, modulating c-di-GMP signaling pathways in bacteria could represent a new way of controlling formation and dispersal of biofilms in medical and industrial settings. Cyclic di-GMP participates in interkingdom signaling. It is recognized by mammalian immune systems as a uniquely bacterial molecule and therefore is considered a promising vaccine adjuvant. The purpose of this review is not to overview the whole body of data in the burgeoning field of c-di-GMP-dependent signaling. Instead, we provide a historic perspective on the development of the field, emphasize common trends, and illustrate them with the best available examples. We also identify unresolved questions and highlight new directions in c-di-GMP research that will give us a deeper understanding of this truly universal bacterial second messenger.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available