Slowdown of growth controls cellular differentiation.
Mol Syst Biol
; 12(5): 871, 2016 05 23.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27216630
ABSTRACT
How can changes in growth rate affect the regulatory networks behavior and the outcomes of cellular differentiation? We address this question by focusing on starvation response in sporulating Bacillus subtilis We show that the activity of sporulation master regulator Spo0A increases with decreasing cellular growth rate. Using a mathematical model of the phosphorelay-the network controlling Spo0A-we predict that this increase in Spo0A activity can be explained by the phosphorelay protein accumulation and lengthening of the period between chromosomal replication events caused by growth slowdown. As a result, only cells growing slower than a certain rate reach threshold Spo0A activity necessary for sporulation. This growth threshold model accurately predicts cell fates and explains the distribution of sporulation deferral times. We confirm our predictions experimentally and show that the concentration rather than activity of phosphorelay proteins is affected by the growth slowdown. We conclude that sensing the growth rates enables cells to indirectly detect starvation without the need for evaluating specific stress signals.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Esporos Bacterianos
/
Bacillus subtilis
/
Proteínas de Bactérias
/
Fatores de Transcrição
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Mol Syst Biol
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR
/
BIOTECNOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2016
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos