Exploring the role of SlrR and SlrA in the SinR epigenetic switch

Bacterial biofilms are becoming a significant societal problem: biofilms form dental plaque, coat ships causing biofouling, and cling onto medical instruments and implants. Understanding how these surface-bound communities are formed is crucial for the development of suitable strategies for their dispersal. At the heart of a switch that commits Bacilli and related species to form biofilms is a transcriptional regulator called SinR and its multiple antagonists. In this addendum, we discuss an alternative model to account for how one of the antagonists is regulated by controlled proteolysis.