biostudies-literatureMhatre EHHS | NIH | National Institute of General Medical SciencesNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNIGMS NIH HHS21647-21657https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7474642biostudies-literatureUnknown117(35)Many bacteria cycle between sessile and motile forms in which they must sense and respond to internal and external signals to coordinate appropriate physiology. Maintaining fitness requires genetic networks that have been honed in variable environments to integrate these signals. The identity of the major regulators and how their control mechanisms evolved remain largely unknown in most organisms. During four different evolution experiments with the opportunist betaproteobacterium <i>Burkholderia cenocepacia</i> in a biofilm model, mutations were most frequently selected in the conserved gene <i>rpfR</i> RpfR uniquely integrates two major signaling systems-quorum sensing and the motile-sessile switch mediated by cyclic-di-GMP-by two domains that sense, respond to, and control the synthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaOne gene, multiple ecological strategies: A biofilm regulator is a capacitor for sustainable diversity.PMC7474642R01GM110444NAI CAN-7 NNA15BB04AR01 GM110444Buskirk SWNeiditch MBCooper VSWaters CMMhatre ESileo ESnyder DJFernandez NLTurner CBfalseOne gene, multiple ecological strategies: A biofilm regulator is a capacitor for sustainable diversity.Many bacteria cycle between sessile and motile forms in which they must sense and respond to internal and external signals to coordinate appropriate physiology. Maintaining fitness requires genetic networks that have been honed in variable environments to integrate these signals. The identity of the major regulators and how their control mechanisms evolved remain largely unknown in most organisms. During four different evolution experiments with the opportunist betaproteobacterium <i>Burkholderia cenocepacia</i> in a biofilm model, mutations were most frequently selected in the conserved gene <i>rpfR</i> RpfR uniquely integrates two major signaling systems-quorum sensing and the motile-sessile switch mediated by cyclic-di-GMP-by two domains that sense, respond to, and control the synthesis2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Sep2025-05-29T20:42:01.873Z2025-05-29T20:42:01.873ZS-EPMC74746423281743310.1073/pnas.2008540117