Biomedical subjects

Kathleen R Ryan

Publications and source records attributed to Kathleen R Ryan.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Regulation of the bacterial cell cycle by an integrated genetic circuit.

How bacteria regulate cell cycle progression at a molecular level is a fundamental but poorly understood problem. In Caulobacter crescentus, two-component signal transduction proteins are crucial for cell cycle regulation, but the connectivity of regulators involved has remained elusive and key factors are unidentified. Here we identify ChpT, an essential histidine phosphotransferase that controls the activity of CtrA, the master cell cycle regulator. We show that the essential histidine kinase CckA initiates two phosphorelays, each requiring ChpT, which lead to the phosphorylation and stabilization of CtrA. Downregulation of CckA activity therefore results in the dephosphorylation and degradation of CtrA, which in turn allow the initiation of DNA replication. Furthermore, we show that CtrA triggers its own destruction by promoting cell division and inducing synthesis of the essential regulator DivK, which feeds back to downregulate CckA immediately before S phase. Our results define a single integrated circuit whose components and connectivity can account for the cell cycle oscillations of CtrA in Caulobacter.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2006

A dynamically localized protease complex and a polar specificity factor control a cell cycle master regulator.

Regulated proteolysis is essential for cell cycle progression in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. We show here that the ClpXP protease, responsible for the degradation of multiple bacterial proteins, is dynamically localized to specific cellular positions in Caulobacter where it degrades colocalized proteins. The CtrA cell cycle master regulator, that must be cleared from the Caulobacter cell to allow the initiation of chromosome replication, interacts with the ClpXP protease at the cell pole where it is degraded. We have identified a novel, conserved protein, RcdA, that forms a complex with CtrA and ClpX in the cell. RcdA is required for CtrA polar localization and degradation by ClpXP. The localization pattern of RcdA is coincident with and dependent upon ClpX localization. Thus, a dynamically localized ClpXP proteolysis complex in concert with a cytoplasmic factor provides temporal and spatial specificity to protein degradation during a bacterial cell cycle.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2006

Partners in crime: phosphotransfer profiling identifies a multicomponent phosphorelay.

The first multicomponent phosphorelay, regulating stalk biogenesis, has been identified in Caulobacter crescentus using a bioinformatic screen, targeted disruptions of each histidine kinase and response regulator, and a new technique called phosphotransfer profiling, in which a purified histidine kinase or histidine phosphotransferase is simultaneously assayed for the ability to phosphorylate each purified response regulator protein from one organism. This powerful combination of approaches will allow future researchers to map the interactions among all two-component signal transduction proteins in genetically tractable bacteria with sequenced genomes.

Caulobacter crescentus↗

PubMed2004

Recruitment of a cytoplasmic response regulator to the cell pole is linked to its cell cycle-regulated proteolysis.

The response regulator CtrA, which silences the Caulobacter origin of replication and controls multiple cell cycle events, is specifically proteolyzed in cells preparing to initiate DNA replication. At the swarmer-to-stalked cell transition and in the stalked compartment of the predivisional cell, CtrA is localized to the cell pole just before its degradation. Analysis of the requirements for CtrA polar localization and CtrA proteolysis revealed that both processes require a motif within amino acids 1-56 of the CtrA receiver domain, and neither process requires CtrA phosphorylation. These results strongly suggest that CtrA polar localization is coupled to its cell cycle-regulated proteolysis. The polarly localized DivK response regulator promotes CtrA localization and proteolysis, but it does not directly recruit CtrA to the cell pole. Mutations in the divJ and pleC histidine kinases perturb the characteristic asymmetry of CtrA localization and proteolysis in the predivisional cell. We propose that polar recruitment of CtrA evolved to ensure that CtrA is degraded only in the stalked half of the predivisional cell, perhaps by localizing a proteolytic adaptor protein to the stalked pole. This is an example of controlled proteolysis of a cytoplasmic protein that is associated with its active recruitment to a specific subcellular address.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2003

Fluorescence bleaching reveals asymmetric compartment formation prior to cell division in Caulobacter.

Asymmetric cell division in Caulobacter crescentus yields daughter cells that have different cell fates. Compartmentalization of the predivisional cell is a critical event in the establishment of the differential distribution of regulatory factors that specify cell fate. To determine when during the cell cycle the cytoplasm is compartmentalized so that cytoplasmic proteins can no longer diffuse between the two nascent progeny cell compartments, we designed a fluorescence loss in photobleaching assay. Individual cells containing enhanced GFP were exposed to a bleaching laser pulse tightly focused at one cell pole. In compartmentalized cells, fluorescence disappears only in the compartment receiving the bleaching beam; in noncompartmentalized cells, fluorescence disappears from the entire cell. In a 135-min cell cycle, the cells were compartmentalized 18 +/- 5 min before the progeny cells separated. Clearance of the 22000 CtrA master transcriptional regulator molecules from the stalked portion of the predivisional cell is a controlling element of Caulobacter asymmetry. Monitoring of a fluorescent marker for CtrA showed that the differential degradation of CtrA in the nascent stalk cell compartment occurs only after the cytoplasm is compartmentalized.

Bacterial Proteins↗

PubMed2003

Temporal and spatial regulation in prokaryotic cell cycle progression and development.

Bacteria exhibit a high degree of intracellular organization, both in the timing of essential processes and in the placement of the chromosome, the division site, and individual structural and regulatory proteins. We examine the temporal and spatial regulation of the Caulobacter cell cycle, bacterial chromosome segregation and cytokinesis, and Bacillus subtilis sporulation. Mechanisms that control timing of cell cycle and developmental events include transcriptional cascades, regulated phosphorylation and proteolysis of signal transduction proteins, transient genetic asymmetry, and intercellular communication. Surprisingly, many signal transduction proteins are dynamically localized to specific subcellular addresses during the cell division cycle and sporulation, and proper localization is essential for their function. The Min proteins that govern division site selection in Escherichia coli may be the first example of a system that generates positional information de novo.

Bacillus subtilis↗

PubMed2002

The CtrA response regulator essential for Caulobacter crescentus cell-cycle progression requires a bipartite degradation signal for temporally controlled proteolysis.

The two-component signaling protein CtrA activates or represses the expression of one-quarter of the cell-cycle-regulated genes in Caulobacter crescentus, integrating DNA replication, morphogenesis, and cell division. The activity of this essential protein is controlled by a positive transcriptional feedback loop, cell-cycle-regulated phosphorylation, and rapid proteolysis as cells enter S-phase at the swarmer-to-stalked cell transition and in the stalked portion of the asymmetric predivisional cell. CtrA activity must be removed from cells at the onset of DNA replication, because phosphorylated CtrA binds to and silences the origin of replication. The ClpXP protease is required for CtrA proteolysis but is present throughout the cell-cycle, so the mechanism for activating and deactivating CtrA proteolysis is unknown. Here, we identify a bipartite proteolytic signal in the CtrA response regulator consisting of two determinants that are each necessary but not sufficient for regulated degradation. One determinant is present in the last 15 amino acid residues of CtrA, particularly the terminal Ala-Ala residues, and another is located within the first 56 residues of the CtrA receiver domain. A fusion of the receiver domain and last 15 residues of CtrA to YFP is properly degraded in living cells. Although the N-terminal 56 residues contain the conserved Asp51 phosphorylation site, mutant analyses show that cell-cycle-controlled CtrA proteolysis is insensitive to the CtrA phosphorylation state. The N-terminal proteolytic determinant is predicted to reside on the surface of the receiver domain in beta-sheet 2 and alpha-helix 2.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗