Protein Activity Sensing in Bacteria in Regulating Metabolism and Motility

Abstract

Bacteria have evolved complex sensing and signaling systems to react to their changing environments, most of which are present in all domains of life. Canonical bacterial sensing and signaling modules, such as membrane-bound ligand-binding receptors and kinases, are very well described. However, there are distinct sensing mechanisms in bacteria that are less studied. For instance, the sensing of internal or external cues can also be mediated by changes in protein conformation, which can either be implicated in enzymatic reactions, transport channel formation or other important cellular functions. These activities can then feed into pathways of characterized kinases, which translocate the information to the DNA or other response units. This type of bacterial sensory activity has previously been termed protein activity sensing. In this review, we highlight the recent findings about this non-canonical sensory mechanism, as well as its involvement in metabolic functions and bacterial motility. Additionally, we explore some of the specific proteins and protein-protein interactions that mediate protein activity sensing and their downstream effects. The complex sensory activities covered in this review are important for bacterial navigation and gene regulation in their dynamic environment, be it host-associated, in microbial communities or free-living.

Enhancement of polyhydroxyalkanoate production by co-feeding lignin derivatives with glycerol in Pseudomonas putida KT2440

“…In general, bacteria have evolved several strategies to be able to adapt to fluctuating environments to ensure their survival. One of them is up-regulating or down-regulating the synthesis of certain proteins while metabolizing available nutrients [ 64 ]. Therefore, to identify potential enzymes and pathways involved in the co-feeding of glycerol and benzoate in P. putida , the global proteome profiles of intracellular extracts were analysed.…”

Enhancement of Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production by Co-feeding Lignin Derivatives With Glycerol in Pseudomonas Putida KT2440

“…In general, bacteria have evolved several strategies to be able to adapt to uctuating environments to ensure their survival. One of them is up-regulating or down-regulating the synthesis of certain proteins while metabolizing available nutrients [58]. Therefore, to identify potential enzymes and pathways involved in the co-feeding of glycerol and benzoate in P. putida, the global proteome pro les of intracellular extracts (n = 3 for each condition) were analyzed.…”

“…chemotaxis histidine kinase CheA, Table S5) in the signal transduction process of P. putida. Moreover, the locomotion process was exclusively upregulated, demonstrating that P. putida activated the biosynthesis of agellum to facilitate chemotaxis for tumbling and swimming away from the toxic benzoate compound [58,59]. In addition, eleven out of 15 biological processes contained both up-or down-regulated proteins, indicating that the metabolic pathways were dynamically altered with the addition of benzoate.…”

An Intertwined Network of Regulation Controls Membrane Permeability Including Drug Influx and Efflux in Enterobacteriaceae

“…It is necessary to keep in mind that, to this simplified scheme sketched here, other processes not mentioned in this work should be added. For instance, the regulation by RNA attenuators [ 90 ], protein activity sensing or moonlight proteins that carry out at least two different functions [ 120 ]), to which must be added the many signals and new players that research is progressively discovering.…”