1999
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1999.01555.x
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Molecular switches — the ON and OFF of bacterial phase variation

Abstract: The expression of most bacterial genes is controlled at the level of transcription via promoter control mechanisms that permit a graded response. However, an increasing number of bacterial genes are found to exhibit an ‘all‐or‐none’ control mechanism that adapts the bacterium to more than one environment. One such mechanism is phase variation, traditionally defined as the high‐frequency ON↔OFF switching of phenotype expression. Phase variation events are usually random, but may be modulated by environmental co… Show more

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Cited by 436 publications
(377 citation statements)
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References 74 publications
(84 reference statements)
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“…E Hagai et al after multiple growth cycles in the laboratory has been reported for several bacteria (Velicer et al, 1998;Henderson et al, 1999;Kearns et al, 2004). The mechanisms responsible for this loss are beyond the scope of this study.…”
Section: Interspecies Bacterial Hitchhikingmentioning
confidence: 73%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…E Hagai et al after multiple growth cycles in the laboratory has been reported for several bacteria (Velicer et al, 1998;Henderson et al, 1999;Kearns et al, 2004). The mechanisms responsible for this loss are beyond the scope of this study.…”
Section: Interspecies Bacterial Hitchhikingmentioning
confidence: 73%
“…The mechanisms responsible for this loss are beyond the scope of this study. Nonetheless, the fact that a non-motile culture regained this ability on exposure to X. perforans points out that the switch between the two phenotypes can be modulated by external factors, and can work in both directions as proposed to occur in phase variations (Velicer et al, 1998;Henderson et al, 1999;Kearns and Losick, 2003;Kearns et al, 2004). The possibility that the external factors affecting surface motility can be signals produced by neighboring species raises many new questions regarding the mechanism that governs surface motility in nature.…”
Section: Interspecies Bacterial Hitchhikingmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The gonococcal aspA gene, which is 97% identical to the meningococcal aspA gene, contains multiple termination codons, suggesting that it may be a pseudogene in N. gonorrhoeae. The presence of the polycytidine tract in aspA, 287 bp from the putative ATG initiation codon, suggests that aspA may be phase variable due to the "slipped-strand mispairing" mechanism (16,28). The length of the polycytidine tract in the aspA gene was identical (10 bp) in strains Z2491, MC58, and Z4181, but was 15 bp in strain SD, thus placing a premature termination codon in-frame.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Several mucosal pathogens have been shown to switch surface-expressed antigens on or off in vitro and in vivo using slipped-strand mispairing of repeat sequences during replication 21 . A similar process has been demonstrated in Y. pestis.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%