Difference between revisions of "Part:BBa K2273003"

The development of genetic competence in Bacillus subtilis is stimulated by quorum sensing (Figure 1). Bacillus subtilis constantly secretes the ComX pheromone, a 9- to 10-amino acid oligopeptide, as a signalling molecule (a). By rising cell-density, the ComX-concentration in the surrounding medium increases until it reaches a threshold and activates ComP, a membrane-spanning protein kinase (b). The kinase reacts to the accumulation of ComX by phosphorylating the response regulator ComA (c) which then works as a transcription factor by binding to several promoters and enhancing their activity (d). (Hamoen et al.)
The most important promoter regulated by ComA and involved in competence development is the promoter of the srfA operon (P_srfA, BBa_K2273000). This operon contains not only genes for the production of the antibiotic surfactin (e) but also for ComS (f), another small peptide that prevents the degradation of the autoregulated transcription factor ComK (g). ComK activates expression of more than 100 genes, including comG, that is part of the transformation machinery (h) (Comella et al.,Susanna et al.). Consequently, B. subtilis can take up DNA from the environment either as direct nutrient source or incorporate the DNA via homologues recombination into its own genome.