The Myxococcus xanthus asgA gene encodes a novel signal transduction protein required for multicellular development

Plamann, Lynda; Li, Yonghui; Cantwell, Brian J.; Mayor, Jocelyne

doi:10.1128/jb.177.8.2014-2020.1995

Cited by 74 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…The disrupted gene constructed as described above was amplified by PCR with the above primers. The PCR products thus obtained were introduced into M. xanthus by electroporation (Plamann et al, 1992).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

PhpA, a tyrosine phosphatase of Myxococcus xanthus, is involved in the production of exopolysaccharide

et al. 2012

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Protein-tyrosine phosphorylation plays a significant role in multiple cellular functions in bacteria. Bacterial tyrosine phosphatases catalyse the dephosphorylation of tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins. Myxococcus xanthus PhpA shares homology with DNA polymerase and histidinol phosphatase family members. Recombinant His-tagged PhpA requires Mn 2+ or Co 2+ for phosphatase activity, and shows strict specificity for phosphorylated tyrosine residues. The k m values of PhpA for p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) and phosphotyrosine peptide, RRLIEDAEpYAARG, were 803 and 139 mM, respectively. The phosphatase activity of PhpA was inhibited by sodium orthovanadate with a k i of 33 mM. phpA gene expression was observed under both vegetative and developmental conditions, but peaked during late fruiting body formation. A phpA mutant exhibited an elevated level of tyrosine phosphorylation of a 79 kDa protein and cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase, BtkA. In M. xanthus, exopolysaccharide (EPS) is essential for cellcell adhesion and fruiting body formation. phpA mutant cells exhibited enhanced capacity for cellcell agglutination in agglutination buffer. Under starvation conditions, phpA mutation caused early aggregation and sporulation. The EPS production assay showed that the phpA mutant produced an increased amount of EPS in comparison with the wild-type. These results indicate that PhpA may negatively regulate the production of EPS in M. xanthus.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

PhpA, a tyrosine phosphatase of Myxococcus xanthus, is involved in the production of exopolysaccharide

et al. 2012

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“…Others converge, when more than one kinase phosphorylates a single response regulator (like for instance PhoB [42], NarL [43], RegA [44], LuxN from Vibrio [45], etc.). In Myxococcus, the latest variant of a part of a twocomponent system has been discovered: a protein containing only the transmitter domain of a sensor and, at its N-terminus, a receiver domain of a regulator [46]. This protein may play a role in the proposed phospho-relay system that leads to differentiation of this organism [46].…”

Section: Two-component Regulatory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Myxococcus, the latest variant of a part of a twocomponent system has been discovered: a protein containing only the transmitter domain of a sensor and, at its N-terminus, a receiver domain of a regulator [46]. This protein may play a role in the proposed phospho-relay system that leads to differentiation of this organism [46].…”

Section: Two-component Regulatory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signal transduction in bacteria: phospho-neural network(s) in Escherichia coli?

Hellingwerf

1995

FEMS Microbiology Reviews

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The molecular basis of many forms of signal transfer in living organisms is provided via the transient phosphorylation of regulatory proteins by transfer of phosphoryl groups between these proteins. The dominant form of signal transduction in prokaryotic microorganisms proceeds via so-called two-component regulatory systems. These systems constitute phosphoryl transfer pathways, consisting of two or more components. Most of these pathways are linear, but some converge and some are divergent. The molecular properties of some of the well-characterised representatives of two-component systems comply with the requirements to be put upon the elements of a neural network: they function as logical operators and show the phenomenon of autoamplification. Because there are many phosphoryl transfer pathways in parallel and because there also appears to be cross-talk between these pathways, the total of all two-component regulatory systems in a single prokaryotic cell may show the typical characteristics of a 'phospho-neural network'. This may well lead to signal amplification, associative responses and memory effects, characteristics which are typical for neural networks. One of the main challenges in molecular microbial physiology is to determine the extent of the connectivity of the constituting elements of this presumed 'phospho-neural network', and to outline the extent of intelligence-like behaviour this network can generate. Escherichia coli is the organism of choice for this characterization.

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“…1). AsgB is a putative DNA-binding protein (Plamann et al, 1994), AsgC (SigA) is the major sigma factor in M . xanthus , and AsgA, which is the subject of this work, is a histidine protein kinase of the type found in two-component signal transduction systems Li & Plamann, 1996).…”

Section: * -mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One group of cell-cell signalling mutants, the asg mutants, fail to produce extracellular A-signal and are blocked early in development (Kuspa et al, 1986;Kuspa & Kaiser, 1989). The A-signal, which is a mixture of amino acids generated by extracellular proteolysis (Kuspa et al, 1992b;Plamann et a[., 1992), appears to function as an indicator of cell density during early development (Kuspa et al, 1992a;Kaplan & Plamann, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic suppression analysis of an asgA missense mutation in Myxococcus xanthus

1999

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The asgA gene is required for generation of extracellular A signal, which serves as a cell-density signal for fruiting body development in Myxococcus xanthus. The AsgA protein is a histidine protein kinase and consists of a receiver domain that is conserved among response regulators of twocomponent signal transduction systems, followed by a histidine protein kinase domain that is conserved among sensor proteins of two-component systems.AsgA is thought to function in a signal transduction pathway that leads to expression of genes required for A-signal generation. A genetic suppression analysis of an asgA missense mutation was undertaken in order to identify genes that may provide information regarding the role of AsgA in A-signal generation and fruiting body formation. Twenty-two independent strains containing mutations that suppress asgA473 were isolated by selecting for production of heat-resistant spores under conditions that promote fruiting body development in wild-type cells. Ten of the 22 suppressor strains contained bypass suppressors. All the suppressor strains had direct spore counts a t least three to four times greater than the original asgA473 mutant, and three strains had viable counts that exceeded wild-type by more than one order of magnitude. Surprisingly, none of the suppressor strains produced wild-type levels of extracellular A-signal.

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The Myxococcus xanthus asgA gene encodes a novel signal transduction protein required for multicellular development

Cited by 74 publications

References 53 publications

PhpA, a tyrosine phosphatase of Myxococcus xanthus, is involved in the production of exopolysaccharide

PhpA, a tyrosine phosphatase of Myxococcus xanthus, is involved in the production of exopolysaccharide

Signal transduction in bacteria: phospho-neural network(s) in Escherichia coli?

Genetic suppression analysis of an asgA missense mutation in Myxococcus xanthus

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