ArticleJournal of bacteriology2012
Adaptor protein MecA is a negative regulator of the expression of late competence genes in Streptococcus thermophilus.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- MecA: A Multifunctional ClpP-Dependent and Independent Regulator in Gram-Positive Bacteria.Molecular microbiology · 2025Review
- MecA inmSphere · 2024Article
- Unveiling the regulatory network controlling natural transformation in lactococci.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- Mass spectrometry and split luciferase complementation assays reveal the MecA protein interactome ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- Article
- Expanding natural transformation to improve beneficial lactic acid bacteria.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Article
- ClpX/P-Dependent Degradation of Novel Substrates in Streptococcus mutans.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Protein degradation control and regulation of bacterial survival and pathogenicity: the role of protein degradation systems in bacteria.Molecular biology reports · 2021Review
- Article
- Intensive targeting of regulatory competence genes by transposable elements in streptococci.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2019Article
- Threshold regulation and stochasticity from the MecA/ClpCP proteolytic system in Streptococcus mutans competence.Molecular microbiology · 2018Article
- Deficiency of MecA inFrontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- Natural DNA Transformation Is Functional in Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris KW2.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2017Article
- Structural Insights into Streptococcal Competence Regulation by the Cell-to-Cell Communication System ComRS.PLoS pathogens · 2016Article
- Stress Physiology of Lactic Acid Bacteria.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2016Review
- Competence for Genetic Transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Mutations in σA Bypass the ComW Requirement for Late Gene Expression.Journal of bacteriology · 2016Article
- Listeria monocytogenes σH Contributes to Expression of Competence Genes and Intracellular Growth.Journal of bacteriology · 2016Article
- Temporal Regulation of the Transformasome and Competence Development inFrontiers in microbiology · 2016Article
- Degradation of SsrA-tagged proteins in streptococci.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2015Article
- Modeling of the ComRS Signaling Pathway Reveals the Limiting Factors Controlling Competence in Streptococcus thermophilus.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In Streptococcus thermophilus, the ComRS regulatory system governs the transcriptional level of comX expression and, hence, controls the early stage of competence development. The present work focuses on the posttranslational control of the activity of the sigma factor ComX and, therefore, on the late stage of competence regulation. In silico analysis performed on the S. thermophilus genome revealed the presence of a homolog of mecA (mecA(St)), which codes for the adaptor protein that is involved in ComK degradation by ClpCP in Bacillus subtilis. Using reporter strains and microarray experiments, we showed that MecA(St) represses late competence genes without affecting the early competence stage under conditions that are not permissive for competence development. In addition, this repression mechanism was found not only to act downstream of comX expression but also to be fully dependent on the presence of a functional comX gene. This negative control was similarly released in strains deleted for clpC, mecA, and clpC-mecA. Under artificial conditions of comX expression, we next showed that the abundance of ComX is higher in the absence of MecA or ClpC. Finally, results of bacterial two-hybrid assays strongly suggested that MecA interacts with both ComX and ClpC. Based on these results, we proposed that ClpC and MecA act together in the same regulatory circuit to control the abundance of ComX in S. thermophilus.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.