TY - JOUR
T1 - Cell cycle transition from S-phase to G1 in Caulobacter is mediated by ancestral virulence regulators
AU - Fumeaux, Coralie
AU - Radhakrishnan, Sunish Kumar
AU - Ardissone, Silvia
AU - Théraulaz, Laurence
AU - Frandi, Antonio
AU - Martins, Daniel
AU - Nesper, Jutta
AU - Abel, Sören
AU - Jenal, Urs
AU - Viollier, Patrick H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by SNF grants no. 31003A_143660 to P.H.V. and no. 31003A_130469 to U.J. We thank Lucy Shapiro, Jim Gober, Mike Laub, Jean-Jacques Letesson, Xavier de Bolle and Matteo Brilli for materials and/or discussions.
PY - 2014/6/18
Y1 - 2014/6/18
N2 - Zinc-finger domain transcriptional regulators regulate a myriad of functions in eukaryotes. Interestingly, ancestral versions (MucR) from Alpha-proteobacteria control bacterial virulence/symbiosis. Whether virulence regulators can also control cell cycle transcription is unknown. Here we report that MucR proteins implement a hitherto elusive primordial S→G1 transcriptional switch. After charting G1-specific promoters in the cell cycle model Caulobacter crescentus by comparative ChIP-seq, we use one such promoter as genetic proxy to unearth two MucR paralogs, MucR1/2, as constituents of a quadripartite and homeostatic regulatory module directing the S→G1 transcriptional switch. Surprisingly, MucR orthologues that regulate virulence and symbiosis gene transcription in Brucella, Agrobacterium or Sinorhizobium support this S→G1 switch in Caulobacter. Pan-genomic ChIP-seq analyses in Sinorhizobium and Caulobacter show that this module indeed targets orthologous genes. We propose that MucR proteins and possibly other virulence regulators primarily control bacterial cell cycle (G1-phase) transcription, rendering expression of target (virulence) genes periodic and in tune with the cell cycle.
AB - Zinc-finger domain transcriptional regulators regulate a myriad of functions in eukaryotes. Interestingly, ancestral versions (MucR) from Alpha-proteobacteria control bacterial virulence/symbiosis. Whether virulence regulators can also control cell cycle transcription is unknown. Here we report that MucR proteins implement a hitherto elusive primordial S→G1 transcriptional switch. After charting G1-specific promoters in the cell cycle model Caulobacter crescentus by comparative ChIP-seq, we use one such promoter as genetic proxy to unearth two MucR paralogs, MucR1/2, as constituents of a quadripartite and homeostatic regulatory module directing the S→G1 transcriptional switch. Surprisingly, MucR orthologues that regulate virulence and symbiosis gene transcription in Brucella, Agrobacterium or Sinorhizobium support this S→G1 switch in Caulobacter. Pan-genomic ChIP-seq analyses in Sinorhizobium and Caulobacter show that this module indeed targets orthologous genes. We propose that MucR proteins and possibly other virulence regulators primarily control bacterial cell cycle (G1-phase) transcription, rendering expression of target (virulence) genes periodic and in tune with the cell cycle.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84902772915
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84902772915#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms5081
DO - 10.1038/ncomms5081
M3 - Article
C2 - 24939058
AN - SCOPUS:84902772915
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 5
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
M1 - 4081
ER -