ArticlePLoS genetics2016
A Kinase-Phosphatase Switch Transduces Environmental Information into a Bacterial Cell Cycle Circuit.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bacterial ribonucleoprotein bodies maintain an acidic pH environment as a mechanism of enzyme regulation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- An ancestral transmembrane transcription factor couples cell envelope regulation and the SOS response in Caulobacter crescentus.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Disrupting NtrC function reveals unexpected robustness in a central cell cycle regulatory network.mBio · 2025Article
- Regulation of the general stress response sigma factor σJournal of bacteriology · 2023Article
- Prophage-like gene transfer agents promote Caulobacter crescentus survival and DNA repair during stationary phase.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Filamentous morphology of bacterial pathogens: regulatory factors and control strategies.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2022Review
- Article
- Nontraditional systems in aging research: an update.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Review
- Bacterial cell proliferation: from molecules to cells.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2021Review
- The Protein Quality Control Network inFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- The Lon Protease Links Nucleotide Metabolism with Proteotoxic Stress.Molecular cell · 2020Article
- The CtrA Regulon of Rhodobacter sphaeroides Favors Adaptation to a Particular Lifestyle.Journal of bacteriology · 2020Article
- Molecular Basis and Ecological Relevance ofmBio · 2019Article
- Growth-driven displacement of protein aggregates along the cell length ensures partitioning to both daughter cells in Caulobacter crescentus.Molecular microbiology · 2019Article
- Multilayered control of chromosome replication inBiochemical Society transactions · 2019Review
- Integration of cell cycle signals by multi-PAS domain kinases.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Article
- Small Molecule Chelators Reveal That Iron Starvation Inhibits Late Stages of Bacterial Cytokinesis.ACS chemical biology · 2018Article
- An sRNA and Cold Shock Protein Homolog-Based Feedforward Loop Post-transcriptionally Controls Cell Cycle Master Regulator CtrA.Frontiers in microbiology · 2018Article
- An essential regulatory function of the DnaK chaperone dictates the decision between proliferation and maintenance in Caulobacter crescentus.PLoS genetics · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The bacterial cell cycle has been extensively studied under standard growth conditions. How it is modulated in response to environmental changes remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the freshwater bacterium Caulobacter crescentus blocks cell division and grows to filamentous cells in response to stress conditions affecting the cell membrane. Our data suggest that stress switches the membrane-bound cell cycle kinase CckA to its phosphatase mode, leading to the rapid dephosphorylation, inactivation and proteolysis of the master cell cycle regulator CtrA. The clearance of CtrA results in downregulation of division and morphogenesis genes and consequently a cell division block. Upon shift to non-stress conditions, cells quickly restart cell division and return to normal cell size. Our data indicate that the temporary inhibition of cell division through the regulated inactivation of CtrA constitutes a growth advantage under stress. Taken together, our work reveals a new mechanism that allows bacteria to alter their mode of proliferation in response to environmental cues by controlling the activity of a master cell cycle transcription factor. Furthermore, our results highlight the role of a bifunctional kinase in this process that integrates the cell cycle with environmental information.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.