Posted by sspiro on August 25, 2007
A remarkable new paper in Science (subscription required for full text) shows that several Bacteria express a flavin-containing light-activated protein kinase. Amazingly, in Brucella abortus, the photoreceptor is apparently required for full virulence. An accompanying commentary speculates that when the pathogen is expelled from its host, virulence genes are up-regulated by light in order to prepare it for re-infection of a new host.
Swartz, T.E., Tseng, T-S., Frederickson, M.A., Paris, G., Comerci, D., Rajashekara, G., Kim, J-G., Mudgett, M.B., Splitter, G.A., Ugalde, R.A., Goldbaum, F.A., Briggs, W.R. and Bogomolni, R.A. (2007) Blue-light-activated histidine kinases: two-component sensors in Bacteria. Science 317: 1090-1093
This entry was posted on August 25, 2007 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Bacteria, Gene regulation, Papers, Pathogens.
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