ArticleThe EMBO journal2023
Two antagonistic response regulators control Pseudomonas aeruginosa polarization during mechanotaxis.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Bacteria regulate collective behaviour by mechanosensing cell-cell collisions.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Distinct roles of PilI and ChpC inApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Tandem receiver domain response regulator DrdR modulates swarming by controlling PilB/PilT activity inmLife · 2026Article
- Controlling the synchronization and symmetry breaking of coupled bacterial pili on active biofilm carpets.eLife · 2026Article
- Cell polarity control by an unconventional G-protein complex in bacteria.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Visualization of Type IV Pili: Linking Structural Architecture, Dynamic Function, and Translational Opportunities.Biology · 2026Review
- The type IV pilus steering committee: how Pil-Chp controls directional motility.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
- Twitching motility suppressors reveal a role for FimX in type IV pilus extension dynamics.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Antagonistic response regulators spatially regulate receptor methylation in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pil-Chp surface sensing system.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Xanthomonas oryzae Orphan Response Regulator EmvR Is Involved in Virulence, Extracellular Polysaccharide Production and Cell Motility.Molecular plant pathology · 2025Article
- The role of PilU in the surface behaviors ofmLife · 2025Article
- Building permits-control of type IV pilus assembly by PilB and its cofactors.Journal of bacteriology · 2024Review
- A bacterial sense of touch: T4P retraction motor as a means of surface sensing byJournal of bacteriology · 2024Review
- A cyanobacterial chemotaxis-like system controls phototactic orientation via phosphorylation of two antagonistic response regulators.microLife · 2024Article
- Evidence for the Type IV Pilus Retraction Motor PilT as a Component of the Surface Sensing System in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Journal of bacteriology · 2023Article
- Evidence for the Type IV Pili Retraction Motor PilT as a Component of the Surface Sensing System inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Two antagonistic response regulators control Pseudomonas aeruginosa polarization during mechanotaxis.The EMBO journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts to solid surfaces to enhance virulence and infect its host. Type IV pili (T4P), long and thin filaments that power surface-specific twitching motility, allow single cells to sense surfaces and control their direction of movement. T4P distribution is polarized to the sensing pole by the chemotaxis-like Chp system via a local positive feedback loop. However, how the initial spatially resolved mechanical signal is translated into T4P polarity is incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that the two Chp response regulators PilG and PilH enable dynamic cell polarization by antagonistically regulating T4P extension. By precisely quantifying the localization of fluorescent protein fusions, we show that phosphorylation of PilG by the histidine kinase ChpA controls PilG polarization. Although PilH is not strictly required for twitching reversals, it becomes activated upon phosphorylation and breaks the local positive feedback mechanism established by PilG, allowing forward-twitching cells to reverse. Chp thus uses a main output response regulator, PilG, to resolve mechanical signals in space and employs a second regulator, PilH, to break and respond when the signal changes. By identifying the molecular functions of two response regulators that dynamically control cell polarization, our work provides a rationale for the diversity of architectures often found in non-canonical chemotaxis systems.
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.