The CovRS Environmental Sensor Directly Controls the ComRS Signaling System To Orchestrate Competence Bimodality in Salivarius Streptococci.

ABSTRACT: In bacteria, phenotypic heterogeneity in an isogenic population compensates for the lack of genetic diversity and allows concomitant multiple survival strategies when choosing only one is too risky. This powerful tactic is exploited for competence development in streptococci where only a subset of the community triggers the pheromone signaling system ComR-ComS, resulting in a bimodal activation. However, the regulatory cascade and the underlying mechanisms of this puzzling behavior remained partially understood. Here, we show that CovRS, a well-described virulence regulatory system in pathogenic streptococci, directly controls the ComRS system to generate bimodality in the gut commensal Streptococcus salivarius and the closely related species Streptococcus thermophilus. Using single-cell a

SUBMITTER: Knoops A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8725580 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature