ArticleBioscience reports2015
Structural characterization of the late competence protein ComFB from Bacillus subtilis.
Article in Bioscience reports, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- ComFB, a widespread family of c-di-NMP receptor proteins.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Molecular interplay between ComEC domains allows for selective degradation of the non-translocating strand during natural transformation.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- c-di-GMP-Dependent Regulation of Motility bybioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- ComFB, a new widespread family of c-di-NMP receptor proteins.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- A c-di-GMP binding effector controls cell size in a cyanobacterium.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Proteins identified through predictive metagenomics as potential biomarkers for the detection of microbiologically influenced corrosion.Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology · 2022Article
- ComEB protein is dispensable for the transformation but must be translated for the optimal synthesis of comEC.Molecular microbiology · 2021Article
- Testing the retroelement invasion hypothesis for the emergence of the ancestral eukaryotic cell.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- A Conserved Metal Binding Motif in the Bacillus subtilis Competence Protein ComFA Enhances Transformation.Journal of bacteriology · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Many bacteria take up DNA from their environment as part of the process of natural transformation. DNA uptake allows microorganisms to gain genetic diversity and can lead to the spread of antibiotic resistance or virulence genes within a microbial population. Development of genetic competence (Com) in Bacillus subtilis is a highly regulated process that culminates in expression of several late competence genes and formation of the DNA uptake apparatus. The late competence operon comF encodes a small protein of unknown function, ComFB. To gain insight into the function of ComFB, we determined its 3D structure via X-ray crystallography. ComFB is a dimer and each subunit consists of four α-helices connected by short loops and one extended β-strand-like stretch. Each subunit contains one zinc-binding site formed by four cysteines, which are unusually spaced in the primary sequence. Using structure- and bioinformatics-guided substitutions we analyzed the inter-subunit interface of the ComFB dimer. Based on these analyses, we conclude that ComFB is an obligate dimer. We also characterized ComFB in vivo and found that this protein is produced in competent cells and is localized to the cytosol. Consistent with previous reports, we showed that deletion of ComFB does not affect DNA uptake function. Combining our results, we conclude that ComFB is unlikely to be a part of the DNA uptake machinery under tested conditions and instead may have a regulatory function.
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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.