Journal
EMBO JOURNAL
Volume 36, Issue 19, Pages 2856-2869Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.15252/embj.201796988
Keywords
cell fate; constant probability; phosphorelay; sporulation
Categories
Funding
- Hertz Foundation
- NDSEG
- NIH [GM18568]
- National Science Foundation [1541959]
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Div Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience [1151043] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Entry into sporulation in Bacillus subtilis is governed by a phosphorelay in which phosphoryl groups from a histidine kinase are successively transferred via relay proteins to the response regulator Spo0A. Spo0A similar to P, in turn, sets in motion events that lead to asymmetric division and activation of the cell-specific transcription factor sigma(F), a hallmark for entry into sporulation. Here, we have used a microfluidics-based platform to investigate the activation of Spo0A and sigma(F) in individual cells held under constant, sporulation-inducing conditions. The principal conclusions were that: (i) activation of sigma(F) occurs with an approximately constant probability after adaptation to conditions of nutrient limitation; (ii) activation of sigma(F) is tightly correlated with, and preceded by, Spo0A similar to P reaching a high threshold level; (iii) activation of Spo0A takes place abruptly just prior to asymmetric division; and (iv) the primary source of noise in the activation of Spo0A is the phosphorelay. We propose that cells exhibit a constant probability of attaining a high threshold level of Spo0A similar to P due to fluctuations in the flux of phosphoryl groups through the phosphorelay.
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