ABC Transporter Required for Intercellular Transfer of Developmental Signals in a Heterocystous Cyanobacterium.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

In the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena, patS and hetN encode peptide-derived signals with many of the properties of morphogens. These signals regulate the formation of a periodic pattern of heterocysts by lateral inhibition of differentiation. Here we show that intercellular transfer of the patS- and hetN-dependent developmental signals from heterocysts to vegetative cells requires HetC, a predicted ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC transporter). Relative to the wild type, in a hetC mutant differentiation resulted in a reduced number of heterocysts that were incapable of nitrogen fixation, but deletion of patS or hetN restored heterocyst number and function in a hetC background. These epistasis results suggest that HetC is necessary for conferring self-immunity t

SUBMITTER: Videau P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4507337 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature