Protein phosphorylation and regulation of carbon metabolism in gram-negative versus gram-positive bacteria.

Bacteria impose regulatory mechanisms on metabolic processes to ensure that the needs of the cell are met but not exceeded. Here, we discuss the basic features of a mechanism by which carbohydrate catabolism in Gram-positive bacteria is regulated. Although the physiological consequences of this regulation are the same as in Gram-negative bacteria, the mechanism is entirely different. These regulatory processes evidently evolved late, after the divergence of Gram-negative bacteria, even though the targets of regulation are universal.