Decker Amanda R, Ramamurthi Kumaran S
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2017 Aug;25(8):637-647. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2017.03.005. Epub 2017 Apr 10.
The use of quality control mechanisms to stall developmental pathways or completely remove defective cells from a population is a widespread strategy to ensure the integrity of morphogenetic programs. Endospore formation (sporulation) is a well conserved microbial developmental strategy in the Firmicutes phylum wherein a progenitor cell that faces starvation differentiates to form a dormant spore. Despite the conservation of this strategy, it has been unclear what selective pressure maintains the fitness of this developmental program, composed of hundreds of unique genes, during multiple rounds of vegetative growth when sporulation is not required. Recently, a quality control pathway was discovered in Bacillus subtilis which monitors the assembly of the spore envelope and specifically eliminates, through cell lysis, sporulating cells that assemble the envelope incorrectly. Here, we review the use of checkpoints that govern the entry into sporulation in B. subtilis and discuss how the use of regulated cell death pathways during bacterial development may help maintain the fidelity of the sporulation program in the species.
利用质量控制机制来阻滞发育途径或从群体中完全清除有缺陷的细胞，是确保形态发生程序完整性的一种广泛策略。芽孢形成（孢子形成）是厚壁菌门中一种高度保守的微生物发育策略，在此过程中，面临饥饿的祖细胞会分化形成休眠孢子。尽管这种策略具有保守性，但尚不清楚在不需要孢子形成的多轮营养生长过程中，是什么选择压力维持了这个由数百个独特基因组成的发育程序的适应性。最近，在枯草芽孢杆菌中发现了一种质量控制途径，该途径监测孢子包膜的组装，并通过细胞裂解特异性地清除那些包膜组装错误的正在形成孢子的细胞。在这里，我们回顾了枯草芽孢杆菌中控制孢子形成进入的检查点的作用，并讨论了在细菌发育过程中使用受调控的细胞死亡途径如何有助于维持该物种孢子形成程序的保真度。
