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An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element
Conjugative transfer of the integrative and conjugative element ICEclc in Pseudomonas requires development of a transfer competence state in stationary phase, which arises only in 3–5% of individual cells. The mechanisms controlling this bistable switch between non-active and transfer competent cell...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7423338/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32720896 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57915 |
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author | Carraro, Nicolas Richard, Xavier Sulser, Sandra Delavat, François Mazza, Christian van der Meer, Jan Roelof |
author_facet | Carraro, Nicolas Richard, Xavier Sulser, Sandra Delavat, François Mazza, Christian van der Meer, Jan Roelof |
author_sort | Carraro, Nicolas |
collection | PubMed |
description | Conjugative transfer of the integrative and conjugative element ICEclc in Pseudomonas requires development of a transfer competence state in stationary phase, which arises only in 3–5% of individual cells. The mechanisms controlling this bistable switch between non-active and transfer competent cells have long remained enigmatic. Using a variety of genetic tools and epistasis experiments in P. putida, we uncovered an ‘upstream’ cascade of three consecutive transcription factor-nodes, which controls transfer competence initiation. One of the uncovered transcription factors (named BisR) is representative for a new regulator family. Initiation activates a feedback loop, controlled by a second hitherto unrecognized heteromeric transcription factor named BisDC. Stochastic modelling and experimental data demonstrated the feedback loop to act as a scalable converter of unimodal (population-wide or ‘analog’) input to bistable (subpopulation-specific or ‘digital’) output. The feedback loop further enables prolonged production of BisDC, which ensures expression of the ‘downstream’ functions mediating ICE transfer competence in activated cells. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the ICEclc regulatory constellation with BisR and BisDC is widespread among Gamma- and Beta-proteobacteria, including various pathogenic strains, highlighting its evolutionary conservation and prime importance to control the behaviour of this wide family of conjugative elements. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7423338 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74233382020-08-13 An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element Carraro, Nicolas Richard, Xavier Sulser, Sandra Delavat, François Mazza, Christian van der Meer, Jan Roelof eLife Genetics and Genomics Conjugative transfer of the integrative and conjugative element ICEclc in Pseudomonas requires development of a transfer competence state in stationary phase, which arises only in 3–5% of individual cells. The mechanisms controlling this bistable switch between non-active and transfer competent cells have long remained enigmatic. Using a variety of genetic tools and epistasis experiments in P. putida, we uncovered an ‘upstream’ cascade of three consecutive transcription factor-nodes, which controls transfer competence initiation. One of the uncovered transcription factors (named BisR) is representative for a new regulator family. Initiation activates a feedback loop, controlled by a second hitherto unrecognized heteromeric transcription factor named BisDC. Stochastic modelling and experimental data demonstrated the feedback loop to act as a scalable converter of unimodal (population-wide or ‘analog’) input to bistable (subpopulation-specific or ‘digital’) output. The feedback loop further enables prolonged production of BisDC, which ensures expression of the ‘downstream’ functions mediating ICE transfer competence in activated cells. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the ICEclc regulatory constellation with BisR and BisDC is widespread among Gamma- and Beta-proteobacteria, including various pathogenic strains, highlighting its evolutionary conservation and prime importance to control the behaviour of this wide family of conjugative elements. eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2020-07-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7423338/ /pubmed/32720896 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57915 Text en © 2020, Carraro et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Genetics and Genomics Carraro, Nicolas Richard, Xavier Sulser, Sandra Delavat, François Mazza, Christian van der Meer, Jan Roelof An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title | An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title_full | An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title_fullStr | An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title_full_unstemmed | An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title_short | An analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
title_sort | analog to digital converter controls bistable transfer competence development of a widespread bacterial integrative and conjugative element |
topic | Genetics and Genomics |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7423338/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32720896 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57915 |
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