Abundance and Complexity of Signalling Mechanisms in Myxobacteria
José Muñoz-Dorado, Penelope I. Higgs and Montserrat Elías-Arnanz
from: Myxobacteria: Genomics, Cellular and Molecular Biology (Edited by: Zhaomin Yang and Penelope I. Higgs). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2014)
Abstract
The complex lifestyle of myxobacteria depends on a vast array of signaling mechanisms. Cells must not only monitor their environment and induce adaptive responses, but they must also communicate in order to coordinate and successfully complete their multicellular life cycle. Recent genomics data have revealed that the signaling potential of myxobacteria is far greater than predicted, since the number of two-component systems, extracytoplasmic function σ factors, and eukaryotic-like protein kinases and phosphatases encoded in their genomes is very high. Characterization of some of these signal-transduction systems has revealed unusual complexity, featuring multiple components and interconnections which suggests that many myxobacterial signaling mechanisms function as intricate networks, rather than as linear pathways. Undoubtedly, a comprehensive elucidation of these signaling mechanisms will be one of the main future goals in order to understand the life cycle of these bacteria read more ...
