Stochastic antagonism between two proteins governs a bacterial cell fate switch.

ABSTRACT: Cell fate decision circuits must be variable enough for genetically identical cells to adopt a multitude of fates, yet ensure that these states are distinct, stably maintained, and coordinated with neighboring cells. A long-standing view is that this is achieved by regulatory networks involving self-stabilizing feedback loops that convert small differences into long-lived cell types. We combined regulatory mutants and in vivo reconstitution with theory for stochastic processes to show that the marquee features of a cell fate switch in Bacillus subtilis-discrete states, multigenerational inheritance, and timing of commitments-can instead be explained by simple stochastic competition between two constitutively produced proteins that form an inactive complex. Such antagonistic interact

SUBMITTER: Lord ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7526939 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature