How specific are bacterial two-component pathways?
Caulobacter histidine kinases prefer their cognate response regulators in vitro; phosphotransfer profiling reveals conserved pathways controlling growth.
Source
Two-component signal transduction pathways regulating growth and cell cycle progression in a bacterium: a system-level analysis
What they did
Combined genetics and phosphotransfer profiling across Caulobacter two-component proteins to map kinase–regulator pairs and phenotypes.
What they found
Kinases show kinetic preference for in vivo cognate regulators; profiling identified targets such as CC0530→CC3743 and the conserved CenK–CenR envelope/growth pathway.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Does not claim every environmental input for every kinase in nature is solved.
Key terms
- Two-component system
- Histidine kinase + response regulator signaling module in bacteria.
- Histidine kinase
- Sensor that autophosphorylates and transfers phosphate to regulators.
- Response regulator
- Phosphorylatable transcription/output protein in TCS pathways.
- Phosphotransfer profiling
- In vitro assay to find preferred kinase→regulator pairs.
- Caulobacter crescentus
- Alphaproteobacterium model for asymmetric cell cycle.
Flashcards
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Quiz yourself
Kinase–regulator relationship:
Common questions
Do kinases prefer cognate regulators?
Yes—strong in vitro kinetic preference.
What is phosphotransfer profiling?
Assay to rapidly identify kinase targets.
Example new pathway?
CenK–CenR, conserved and essential for growth/envelope.
Organism?
Caulobacter crescentus.
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