ArticleGenes & development2013
Respiration control of multicellularity in Bacillus subtilis by a complex of the cytochrome chain with a membrane-embedded histidine kinase.
Article in Genes & development, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers.
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Who cites it
77 citing papers in PubMed, 141 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Living Microneedles for Intradermal Delivery of Beneficial Bacteria.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2025Article
- Adaptive laboratory evolution for improved tolerance of vitamin K in Bacillus subtilis.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Review
- Molecular Mechanisms of Biofilm Formation on Orthopaedic Implants: Review of the Literature.Maedica · 2024Article
- Interbacterial Biofilm Competition through a Suite of Secreted Metabolites.ACS chemical biology · 2024Article
- The roles of calcium signaling and calcium deposition in microbial multicellularity.Trends in microbiology · 2023Review
- Central metabolism is a key player in E. coli biofilm stimulation by sub-MIC antibiotics.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Digestive exophagy of biofilms by intestinal amoeba and its impact on stress tolerance and cytotoxicity.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2023Article
- Pulcherrimin protects Bacillus subtilis against oxidative stress during biofilm development.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2023Article
- Biofilm Formation by Mutant Strains of Bacilli under Different Stress Conditions.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Pulcherriminic acid modulates iron availability and protects against oxidative stress during microbial interactions.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The coordinated population redistribution betweenBiofilm · 2022Article
- Mechanisms driving spatial distribution of residents in colony biofilms: an interdisciplinary perspective.Open biology · 2022Review
- Impact of FeMicroorganisms · 2022Article
- Gradients and consequences of heterogeneity in biofilms.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2022Review
- The roles of intracellular and extracellular calcium iniScience · 2022Article
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis forms organized multicellular communities known as biofilms wherein the individual cells are held together by a self-produced extracellular matrix. The environmental signals that promote matrix synthesis remain largely unknown. We discovered that one such signal is impaired respiration. Specifically, high oxygen levels suppressed synthesis of the extracellular matrix. In contrast, low oxygen levels, in the absence of an alternative electron acceptor, led to increased matrix production. The response to impaired respiration was blocked in a mutant lacking cytochromes caa3 and bc and markedly reduced in a mutant lacking kinase KinB. Mass spectrometry of proteins associated with KinB showed that the kinase was in a complex with multiple components of the aerobic respiratory chain. We propose that KinB is activated via a redox switch involving interaction of its second transmembrane segment with one or more cytochromes under conditions of reduced electron transport. In addition, a second kinase (KinA) contributes to the response to impaired respiration. Evidence suggests that KinA is activated by a decrease in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+))/NADH ratio via binding of NAD(+) to the kinase in a PAS domain A-dependent manner. Thus, B. subtilis switches from a unicellular to a multicellular state by two pathways that independently respond to conditions of impaired respiration.
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Registered trials
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.